HIGH AND LOW MASS 

IN THE 

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH; 

WITH COMMENTS. 



BY WILLIAM HOG AN, 

FORMERLY A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, AND AUTHOR QF " POPERf AS 
IT WAS AND AS IT IS," u AURICULAR CONFESSION," ETC. 



u 1 know thee to the bottom 5 from within 
Thy shallow centre, to thy outmost skin." 




NASHUA : — CHARLES T. GILL. 
BOSTON: — JORDAN AND WILEY. 



1846. 



, H £ ' I 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1846, 
By Charles T. Gill, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of New Hampshire. 



Stereotyped by Morrill, Silsby & Co. 
Concord, JV. H. 

t^^vwv<rwvvvvvvvs>vvvvvvvvvvvvvv' 



PREFACE. 



Had I not some reason to think that the following pages 
may find their way to posterity, I should give them to the 
public without preface, note, or introduction ; but from 
the extensive circulation and favorable reception which my 
former writings on Popery have met with, I am induced to 
believe that the present volume will be read long after I 
am cold in my grave. 

I never valued lip-service of any kind, nor in any form ; 
but I am not, on that account, insensible to public favor. 
I desire the friendship and good opinion of all men, espe- 
cially of those who deserve the name of Christian, to what- 
ever denomination they may belong. The esteem of such 
men is, in my mind, of inestimable value ; and could I 
merit and carry it with me to my grave, I might calmly 
exclaim at the hour of dissolution, " O death, where is thy 
sting?" For me, under those circumstances, it would 
have none. 

It will be seen from the following pages, although of a 
desultory character, (like all others which I have written on 
Popery, carelessly thrown together,) that they are chiefly 
intended for the perusal of my fellow-citizens of the Roman 
Catholic denomination. In their welfare I feel a peculiar 
interest, and, provided I can reach their hearts and judg- 
ments, by showing them the errors of their belief and ways, 
it is immaterial to me — as far as my literary reputation is 
concerned — -in what manner or in what style of writing 
that object is accomplished. 

Many, I am aware, have censured some of my former 



iv 



PREFACE. 



writings ; some denouncing them as coarse, and others, as 
unfit for female eyes ; leaving me only one consolation, 
that no individual questioned the veracity of a solitary 
statement of facts recorded by me. I must, of course, 
except all popish critics, every one of whom has and will, 
as in duty bound, pronounce my writings old lies. I must 
admit that there were many among the readers of my books 
on Popery, who honestly and sincerely thought that much 
of my language and observations on the conduct and doc- 
trines of popish priests, were unnecessarily harsh and severe. 
If these individuals would pause a little, and take into con- 
sideration the fact, that the object of my writings was to ex- 
pose the immoralities of popish priests, but especially those 
committed by them in the tribunal of confession, they would 
soon see that such language as I have used was indispen- 
sable for the accomplishment of my purpose. How could 
American citizens understand the nature of those profli- 
gacies which popish priests are daily practising under the 
cloak of hearing auricular confessions, if I did not name 
them ? How could they guard their children against the 
seductive practices of Catholic priests, did I not tell them 
how these seductions were accomplished? and how could 
I give them this information without using language un- 
palatable and almost offensive to chaste and delicate minds ? 

What do American readers expect from me ? My object 
is, and has been in all my writings, to caution my Pro- 
testant fellow-citizens against the deceptive and criminal 
practices taught and encouraged by popish priests in the 
United States ; and could this be accomplished by me, or 
any one else, in any other language than that of truth? Do 
Protestants expect that the gross immoralities of popish 
priests — at the bare mention of which my very soul sick- 
ens — can be expressed in refined or gentlemanly language, 
so as not to wound the sensibilities even of the good and 
virtuous ? Could I walk upon eggs, and not break them ? 



PREFACE. V 

Could the smoke of our chimneys take a due north direc- 
tion, with the wind blowing directly from that point ? As 
well may these things be expected, as that I, who was edu- 
cated a Roman Catholic priest, could speak of the vices 
of my former brethren in the Roman Catholic church in 
terms not calculated to give offence to those who knew 
nothing on the subject. 

It is a source of pleasure to me, that even popish critics 
could not, in their malice, fix upon one statement of mine, 
which they could peculiarly designate as either embracing 
or implying a falsehood ; even Brownson, who is the hired 
calumniator of all Christians and of Christianity itself, 
dared not accuse me of untruth, nor even of being an as- 
sailant of popish priests or popery in any one instance in 
my life. I have always acted on the defensive, and never, 
until provoked and urged in self-defence, have I by word 
or deed given any offence to papists. But Brownson is 
beyond the pale of christian society, and it is not my pro- 
vince to follow him through the devious paths by which he 
has reached that unenviable position. Well may it be said 
of him in the language of the poet, 

" Spleen to mankind his envious heart possessed, 
And much he hated all, but most the best." 

Why notice this man Brownson at all, except in prayer for 
his conversion ? There is some excuse for the conduct of 
this unfortunate being ; " durum telum necessitas" 

" With hunger stung and wild necessity," 

he had no other alternative than to hire himself to the po- 
pish church for the purpose of calumniating myself and all 
others who dare oppose her demoralizing doctrines. This 
mastodon of folly, inconsistency and infidelity, had at an 
early period of my writing, pronounced all my statements 
to be old lies ; but it is now well understood that this man, 
Brownson — better known as Corporal Trim of the Boston 
1* 



PREFACE. 



Democratic Review — is no authority or competent witness 
in any case touching popery ; he is nothing better than a 
mere " missourium" of unmeaning words and bombastic 
sentences. 

This is no place to notice those critics among Roman 
Catholics who have censured my books. Under existing 
circumstances, I consider their censure praise, and I think 
it will be looked upon as such by all unbiased Protestants : 
but as I desire the confidence and good opinion of the great 
body of the followers of popery, it is proper that I should 
stand before them in as favorable a position as possible. 
This is a duty which I owe to them ; it is one which I owe 
even to Protestants, who are equally anxious with myself 
for their conversion. Many of these poor people are per- 
suaded by their priests that I never was ordained a Roman 
Catholic priest, and that I never stood fair, in my clerical 
capacity, among my former brethren of the Roman Catho- 
lic church, or at least that I never was recognized as enti- 
tled to a respectable position among them in the United 
States. It is proper that I should disabuse the poor Irish 
Catholics particularly of this ef ror ; I beg therefore to lay 
before them the following letter, the original of which is 
in my possession, and may be seen by any gentleman who 
desires it. 

Nos, Joannes Connolly, Dei et apostolico sedis gratia, 
Episcopus Nov-Eboracensis , dilecto nobis in Christo 
R do D no Gultelmo Hogan Presbytero, salutem et bene- 
dictionem* 

Vita ac morum honestas aliaque laudabilia probitatis ac 
virtutum merit a, super quibug apud nos fide digno com- 
mendaris testimonio, nos inducunt ut tibi, R. D no Gulielmo 
Hogan committamus, prout per praesentes litteras, usque ad 
revocationem, seu aliam nostram dispositionem valituras, 

* This letter is published literally as it was written. 



PREFACE* 



vii 



committimus maims seu officium deserviendi ecclesi&e Al- 
banensi ejusque Districtui, ac ibidem exercendi munera 
amarum curee annexa ; nempe, Missam celebrandi, verbum 
Dei praedicandi, Sacramenta administrandi, exceptis Con- 
firmatione et Ordine ; in impedimentis matrimonii dispell- 
sandi, modo non attingant secundum gradum consanguini- 
tatis, simplicem aut mixtum ; ceeteraque munera perficiendi, 
iis exceptis quae requirunt character em episcopal em, aut 
facultates extraordinarias nobis a sede apostolica concessas. 
duapropter per misericordiam Dei te adhortamur, ut gregi 
tuee cura3 concredito sollicite invileges, quasi de animabus 
sanguine Christi redemptis supremo Judici rationem red- 
diturus. 

Datum Nov-Eboraci, die 22 Novembris, anno 1819. 
Loco ^ sigilli. JOANNES CONNOLLY, 

Episcopus Diocesis Nov-Eboracensis. 

Roman Catholics will see from the above, that they have 
been in error, whether wilful or not in all cases I will not 
say ; but in justice to myself I am bound to state that all 
their priests must be aware of the fact that no clergyman 
among them stood higher in his clerical capacity in the 
United States than myself. All the faculties usually given 
to clergymen of the Roman Catholic church, have been 
given to me by the Catholic bishop of New York. I was 
regularly inducted into the charge of the Catholic church 
in Albany, and there exercised all the functions of my office 
without interruption, with acceptance to the Roman Catho- 
lics and citizens of that place, until, in utter disgust with 
the immoralities of some priest who had preceded me there, 
I felt it my duty to resign that situation ; and when, much 
against the wish of the citizens at large, as well as the Ro- 
man Catholics, I did resign, a vote of thanks was rendered 
to me by the citizens, without distinction of creed or party, 
for the services I had rendered in advancing the cause of 



viii 



PREFACE. 



Christianity. A notice of that vote, together with the vote 
itself, was published in one of the journals of the city of 
Albany — the Argus, if I mistake not — in the early part of 
1820. Among the many distinguished citizens of that place, 
who signed their names to this testimonial of their respect 
for me, was De Witt Clinton, in whose society I spent 
much of my time during my stay there. My first difficulty 
with the Romish church was in the city of Philadelphia, and 
the cause of that difficulty was one in which I now pride 
myself, and should gather around me every Roman Catholic 
in the United States. It was their cause ; it was the cause 
of God, of scriptural science and civil rights that I struggled 
for ; and if I am spared, I will call upon them for aid and 
support to carry out the principles which I then advocated, 
and for which I am ready — should my health permit it — 
to struggle and suffer again. 

WILLIAM HOGAN. 

Nashville, Oct 26, 1846. 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH; 

WITH COMMENTS. 



" I know thee to the bottom ; from within 
Thy shallow centre, to thy outmost skin." 

There is a period in the life of every man, when 
he feels peculiarly disposed to look around him, and 
examine the Divine plan of the spiritual and tempo- 
ral government under which he is permitted to live. 
Every man who will abstract his mind for a moment 
from all sublunary considerations, must feel that he 
is an accountable being, and that he has, sooner or 
later, to render his account to that Sovereign Master, 
who alone has a natural and an unalienable right to 
demand it. If we may judge of others by ourselves — 
and we may safely do so, if we are honest and in 
earnest — -nothing should engage our individual and 
national attention more seriously than a proper ex- 
amination into the means and forces, which Provi- 
dence has in operation for the education, spiritual 
and political, of man. 

It is the duty of every living being endowed with 
reason, to see to this matter, and ask himself, what 
have I done, to forward the designs of the Almighty 
in my creation ? He is pleased to work by agents. 



10 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



Any and every man is, or should be, an agent in for- 
warding the Divine plan of his creation. 

The world — if I may use such an observation- 
was young. It is now old. It has had its hour of 
boyhood ; that has passed, or is passing away. It 
has had its hour of manhood too ; but whether that 
has passed as yet, or whether it has arrived at ma- 
turity, is what we know nothing about. When the 
social system — as far as we know it — was first formed, 
it enjoyed a strictly independent government ; that 
independence was not only political, but religious. 
In times that are gone by, when man was fresh from 
the hands of his Maker, when his life was without 
sin or sorrow, when his soul was without stain, and 
uncontaminated by crime, it breathed nothing but 
gratitude to its Divine Author ; his lips smiled with 
joy, and his eyes beamed with gladness, in contem- 
plating the numerous sources of pleasure which his 
eternal Father had provided for his sole use and en- 
joyment. Man was, or ought to be, truly happy 
then ; but alas, he did not long remain so. If we 
take a survey of society, in the early hours of its 
formation, we soon find it filled with multitudinous 
and independent tribes, each tribe having its own 
form of government, and the whole country which 
they then occupied, having its own religion, which 
was local, and not universally received by others : 
Each nation, and almost each tribe, had its own god, 
and each god had its peculiar attributes. Things 
continued in this state until Rome gained the ascen- 
dent, and became the mother of nations, as well as 
of tribesT" We must pass over the intervening periods 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 11 

I 

of history. Tribe after tribe, nation after nation, 
disappeared, and bowed the knee to imperious Rome. 
One after another of the primitive legislatures, that 
either cursed or blessed mankind until then^suddenly 
disappeared, and the earth seemed denuded of a free 
people and free religious institutions. This might 
have been expected ; but it is not the province of 
the writer to inquire into the ratio quare. Suffice it 
to say, that the nature of things demanded it. Pa- 
ganism arose, and for a time flourished upon the ruins 
of political religion and civil rights ; but it carried 
within itself the elements of its own destruction and 
annihilation. St. Chrysostom observes, — and very 
properly too, — " The error of idolatry and paganism 
was by its own self extinguished. " True, it was 
destroyed, and that by its own self ; but it was only 
for a moment. True it also is, that on those very 
spots, and in some of those identical places, where 
paganism once flourished and reveled in the midst 
of unbelief and impurities, altars were, and are now, 
erected to the worship of the Triune God. The 
local gods soon faded and vanished, and we know 
that the true emblem of Christianity, — the cross,- — 
occupied those places where stocks and stones were 
once worshiped. But if Chrysostom lived in our 
days, did he live at the present moment, where I 
now write, — New England, the land of the Puri- 
tans,— could he accompany the writer into some of 
those churches, which conspicuously meet the eye 
in almost every town, every city, and every section 
of our country, would the saint have exclaimed in 
the full glow of his heart, as he once did* that " the 



12 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



error of idolatry and paganism was by its own self 
destroyed ?" It might have been extinguished, in- 
deed, in the days of Ghrysostom ; it might have 
been partially buried, or at least hidden from the 
public eye ; it might have been lost to view in the 
rising splendor of the pure blaze of Christianity. 
The Sun of Righteousness might, in the days of 
Ghrysostom, have thrown an eclipse over the dim 
light of idolatry and paganism ; but is idolatry ex- 
tinguished now ? Is there no idolatrous worship in 
New England? Have we no pagan rites or hea- 
thenish worship amongst ourselves ? Would that 
the writer could answer in the negative. Would 
that he were gathered to his forefathers, and that 
Providence had thereby denied him the painful 
acknowledgment, that for some portion of his life, 
while he had been officiating as a Roman Catholic 
priest, it was his misfortune to witness and partici- 
pate in idolatries, not less wicked, sensual, gross, and 
immoral, than those practised by heathens or pagans. 

It is not my intention, as the reader probably 
knows, in advance, to write a history of the decline 
and fall of paganism ; neither do I intend to give 
a treatise or a history of the progress of Christianity, 
or the consequent blessings arising from its establish- 
ment. My sole and only object is, in the following 
pages, to show to my fellow-citizens, — at least to 
those of them who suppose that idolatry is now 
extinct, — that they are mistaken. It flourishes now, 
as luxuriantly as ever, or nearly so. This is a bold 
assertion in a land of boasted freedom and uni- 
versally reputed intelligence. It is almost a daring 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 13 

assertion ; in a land of religion. Bible societies, 
tract societies, philosophical and literary societies — 
in a land, in which perhaps, more is done, more pains 
are taken, bolder efforts are made, and more prayers 
are offered for the advancement of science, — espe- 
cially scriptural and christian science,— than in any 
other land or by any other people in the world. I 
almost shrink from the very thoughts of such an 
assertion as I have made. What ! it will be said, 
idolatry in New England ? Heathenish practices 
and pagan ceremonies among the children of the 
Puritans ? Stocks and stones and manufactured; 
gods, worshiped in their very midst ? Idols, worse 
than idols, bowed to, and worshiped in their very 
presence ? Incense offered to gods of bread- — baked 
crackers manufactured into gods — and ail this in 
New England ? It cannot be, it will be said ; " tell 
it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Es- ' 
kelon." But I must repeat the assertion. It is 
so ; and when I produce facts which will defy de- 
nial, I will leave it confidently to any honest man 
in New England where I write or elsewhere, whe- 
ther I am telling truth or not. r I will venture the 
assertion, I will hazard it, without any fear of con- 
tradiction, that there is not an individual in the 
North American republic, or on the face of the globe, 
unbiased by prejudice, or uncorrupted by political 
or pecuniary interest, who cannot admit the truth of 
my statements, or who will deny that the cause of 
liberty is in danger from the spirit of paganism, 
which is now boldly striding from one end of this 
country to the other. 
2 



14 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



It is a well-received axiom, that similar causes 
produce similar effects. If this axiom be true — and 
it would be a contradiction in terms to deny it — 
what are the hitherto free citizens of this country 
coming to ? Are we to share the fate of those an- 
cient and independent tribes and governments, which 
were found settled along and around the Mediter- 
ranean, as far as the interior of the country was 
then explored ? We know their destiny. It was a 
hard and cruel fate. Rome soon gained the ascen- 
dency ; tribe after tribe, and nation after nation, have 
been hurried along by the current of political power, 
towards Rome, then the mistress of the world. 
Take heed, Americans ; examine well the causes 
which led to these results. Ask yourselves, were 
they not chiefly owing to the unsoundness of their 
creeds ? Was it not the want of pure religion and a 
virtual denial of the living God that brought on 
and accelerated the downfall of tribes, and nations, 
and people, once as free and independent as you are ? 
Was it not their idolatrous worship and heathenish 
practices, that swept them into the vortex of the 
power of Rome ? And are not the same causes, at 
the present moment, hurrying you to a similar des- 
tiny ? You are encouraging idolatry, as they did ; 
and are you not thereby provoking, as they did, the 
anger of the living God ? 

I propose to show you, in the following pages, that 
you are, as a people, encouraging idolatry of the 
grossest kind upon record. I will not tax your cre- 
dulity, by asking you to believe my own unsupported 
statement. I only ask your patient attention for a 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



15 



short time, in perusing the popish Mass, just as it is 
now celebrated in this country. It will not, per- 
haps, be interesting to some of you ; it cannot add 
much to your general information upon any subject, 
It may, however, gratify the curiosity of all who 
have gone to a Roman Catholic church to hear Mass, 
and witnessed the solemn mummery, antic tricks, 
and ingenious jugglery of popish priests, during its 
performance. 

I will give the Mass in Latin ; accompanying it, 
shall be its translation in English. I shall add noth- 
ing to the Mass ; the reader shall have it just as it is 
repeated in any popish church in Boston, or else- 
where. The following is the order of the Mass, ac- 
cording to the rubric of the Romish church. 

Rubric. — Sacerdos paratus cum ingreditur ad al- 
tare, facta illi solita reverentia, signat se signo crucis 
a fronte ad pectus, et clara voce dicit. 

Translation. — The priest being prepared, when 
he approaches to the altar, having made the accus- 
tomed reverence to it, signs himself with the sign of 
the cross, from his forehead to his breast ; and, with 
a loud voice, says, 

R. — In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. 
Amen. 

Trans. — In the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

R. — Deinde junctis manibus ante pectus, incipit 
antiphonam. Introibo ad altare Dei. Minister res. 
Ad Deum qui lsetificat juventutem meam. 

Trans. — Then, having joined his hands before his 
breast, he begins the sentences, called the Antiphone. 



1€ 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



• — I will enter to the altar of God. The Minister or 
Clerk answers — To God who giveth joy to my youth. 

R. — Postea alternatim cum ministris dicit sequen- 
tem Psalmum. 

Trans. — After this, he repeats the following Psalm, 
alternately with the ministers or clerks : — 

Psalmus 42. — Judica me, Deus, et discerne cau« 
sam meam gente non sancta ; ab homine iniquo et 
doloso erue me. M. — duia te es Deus fortitudo 
mea ; quare me repulisti, et quare tristis incido, dum 
affligit me inimicus ? S. — Emitte lucem tuam et 
veritatem tuam ; ipsse me eduxerunt et adduxerunt 
in montem sanctam tuam et in tabernacula tua. 
M. — Et introibo ad altare Dei : ad Deum qui lsetifi- 
cat juventutem meam. — Confitebor tibi in ey- 
thara, Deus, Deus meus j quare tristis es. et quare 
disturbas me ? M. — -Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc 
confitebor illi ; salutem vultus mei, et Deus meus. 
S. — ^Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto. M. — 
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sas- 
cula saeculorum. Amen. 

Trans. — Psalm 42. Judge me, O God, and distin- 
guish my cause from the nation that is not holy ; 
from the unjust and deceitful man deliver me. 31— 
Since thou, O God, art my strength, why hast thou 
cast me off, and why do I go sorrowful while the 
enemy afflicteth me ? Priest.— Send forth thy light 
and thy truth ; they have conducted me, and brought 
me to thy holy mount and tabernacles. M. — And 
I will go to the altar of God, to God who giveth joy 
to my youth. Priest. — I will praise thee upon the 
harp, O God, my God. Why art thou so sad, O my 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 17 



soul, and why dost thou disquiet me ? M. — Hope 
in God, for I will still praise Him, the salvation of 
my countenance, and my God. Priest. — Glory be to 
the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. 
M.— As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever 
shall be, world without end. Amen. 

R. — Sacerdos repetit antiphonam. Introibo ad 
altare Dei. M. — Ad Deum qui tetificat juventutem 
me am. 

Trans. — -The priest repeats the Antiphone. I will 
go unto the altar of God. Res. — To God who 
giveth joy to my youth. 

R. — Signat se dicens, Adjutorium nostrum in no- 
mine Domini. Res. — dui fecit cesium et tellus. 

Trans. — He signs himself with the sign of the 
cross, saying — Our help is in the name of the Lord. 
Res. — Who made heaven and earth. 

R. — Deinde junctis manibus, profunde inclinatus 
facit confessionem. 

Trans. — Then having joined his hands, and bow- 
ing lowly, he makes the confession. 

R. — In missis defunctorum et in missis de tem- 
pore a dominica passionis usque ad sabbatum sanc- 
tum exclusive, omittitur Psalmus " Judica me, Deus," 
cum " Gloria Patri" et repetitio Antiphonse ; sed die to 
"In nomine -Patris," " Introibo," et " Adjutorium," 
fit confessio ut sequitur. 

Trans. — In masses for the dead, and in masses 
during passion week, the Psalm commencing with 
" Judge me, O God," also the " Glory be to the Fa- 
ther," and the repetition of the Antiphone, are omit- 
ted ; but having said " In the name of the Father/' 
2* 



18 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



&c.j the Introibo and the Adjutorium, confession is 
made as follows : 

R. — Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatee Marias sem- 
per virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Johanni 
Baptistae, Sanctis apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus 
Sanctis, et vobis, fratres, (vel tibi, Pater,) quia peccavi 
nimis cogitatione, verbo, et opere, (percutit sibi pec- 
tus ter, dicens,) mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima 
culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, 
beatum Michaelum Archangelum, beatum Johannem 
Baptistam, sanctos apostolos Petrum et Paulum, om- 
nes sanctos, et vos, fratres, (vel te, Pater) orare pro 
me ad Dominum Deum nostrum. 

Trans. — I confess to Almighty God, to blessed 
Mary ever virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, 
to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy apostles 
Peter and Paul, to all the saints, to you, brethren — 
(or to you, father) that I have sinned exceedingly, 
both in thought, word and deed, (here he strikes his 
breast three times) through my fault, through my 
fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I 
beseech the blessed Mary ever virgin, blessed Mi- 
chael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the 
holy apostles Peter and Paul, and all the saints, and 
you, brethren, (or you, father,) to pray to our Lord 
God for me. 

Is this confession not in itself, blasphemy? In 
the whole history of the Christian church, we find 
nothing to warrant it. It was not, for upwards of a 
thousand years after the resurrection of our Savior, 
that such a confession or declaration of sins, was 
even thought of. It might well be supposed, (and 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHTTBCH* 1 9 

who but an infidel, or idolater, could suppose other- 
wise,) that when man feels conscious of sin, he 
should confess his guilt, and ask forgiveness from 
Him, whom he has offended, and who alone, through 
the merits of his Son, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, 
could pardon it ; but no, this is not enough, according 
to the doctrine of the infallible church of Rome. 
It is not enough that God the Father should be in- 
voked, but the whole body of saints must be called 
to his aid, to obtain forgiveness of sins. How do 
Roman Catholics justify themselves, in the use of 
this blasphemous form of confession ? There is not 
one of the standard writers in the Romish church, 
before the tenth century at least, who considers it 
essential or necessary ; even the council of Trent, 
ivhich sat about as late as three hundred years ago, 
does not go further than to teach the poor Catholics 
that it is good and profitable to invoke the prayers 
of the saints ; but that council no where teaches 
that it is necessary to pray to the saints. Why 
then will our fellow-citizens of the Roman Catholic 
church continue a practice unwarranted by any di- 
vine law or precept ? What excuse will they make, 
or what reason can they assign, for thus departing 
from the early Christian practice of praying to God 
alone ? Let us hear some of the reasons which they 
give, and let us rather pity their infatuation, than 
censure their motives, which, (among the laity at 
least,) we may presume to be sincere. I have, 
of course, during my life in the ministry of the 
Catholic church, frequently asked myself, why, with 
many others, I used the above unchristian and un~ 



20 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



scriptural form of confession. I have frequently put 
the question to myself, why not prostrate myself in 
spirit before my merciful Father, and ask him alone, 
through the merits of his Son, to pardon and forgive 
me any trespasses I might have committed against 
him ; but I invariably tried to justify myself, by 
having recourse to that stale and canting argument, 
which the unprincipled priests of the Romish church 
inculcated upon my mind, when young and under 
their influence, viz. the Almighty Father would deem 
it presumption in me, or in any other sinner, to 
approach him without a Mediator, or mediators. 
They left an impression upon my mind when young, 
that there were many mediators between the Father 
of mercies and his guilty children, and with the 
craft and cunning which the father of lies alone 
could suggest, they left upon my mind a belief 
which it took years to eradicate, that the best medi- 
ators between me and my God were the Virgin 
Mary, Peter and Paul, and a whole rabble of saints, 
who, if now living, (at least, many of them,) would 
disgrace our penitentiaries. Under these circum- 
stances, I cannot speak unkindly or harshly of Ro- 
man Catholics who go to confession, and use that 
form to which I have above alluded. I only speak 
harshly of them, when I see them continue in wilful 
error, and the dupes of priests whose interest it is to 
keep them in darkness. 

It is not to be much wondered at, that in Roman 
Catholic countries, the human mind should be re- 
duced to any and every state of degradation. The 
mass of the people, in those countries, are willing 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 2 1 

and content that all the sciences, all seminaries of 
education, and all their halls of legislation, should 
be in the possession and under the direction of their 
priests ; and history tells us what use they have 
made of those privileges. 

Will the reader permit me to give one instance of 
the use which a Roman Catholic priest once made of 
his education and remarkably fine talents ? I have 
recently been reading a work written by a native 
of Rivano in Tuscany, one Bartholomew Albizi, a 
Romish priest, greatly distinguished for his learning ; 
an historian, a philosopher, and a pulpit orator, who 
would do honor to any age or any country j and 
what, reader, do you think was the subject of a 
work, written by him about twelve hundred years 
ago ? He was a friar of the order of St. Francis. 
He wished for the appointment of Superior, in the 
order to which he belonged ; and to gain this office, 
without much opposition or dissatisfaction, he wrote 
a work on the equality of the dignity of St. Francis, 
and Christ. This work was so well received, and 
became so popular with papists and their writers, 
that it was reprinted, and several thousand copies of 
it circulated, only about four hundred years ago. In 
this work, the writer proves, or tries to prove, that 
our Lord Jesus Christ was the forerunner of St. 
Francis, and the divine mission of the saint is proved 
by some of the most astonishing miracles that ever 
edified the infallible church of Rome, or ever amused 
Protestant heretics. Will the reader allow me to 
give him one or two instances of the nature of those 
miracles by which it was clearly proved that the 



22 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



Savior was the forerunner of St. Francis ? St. Fran- 
cis, as this reverend and learned Roman Catholic 
priest tells us, made a snow woman, and breathed a 
living spirit into the congealed mass. Don't laugh, 
fellow-christians — the woman lived, moved, and had 
a being ; Bishop Hughes or Bishop Fenwick will tell 
you, that this is a " fixed fact but if you still 
should be heretic enough to doubt it, the ex-reve- 
rend chanscelin£C of the Boston Democratic Review 
will prove the fact, to the entire satisfaction of any 
man, whose mind, like his own, possesses such 
versatility and succession of ideas, as not to remain 
the same for the ninety-nine hundredth part of a 
minute, or what some of the Popish theologians 
would tell them, in their school cant, insians ra- 
tionis. Another miracle, we are told by this writer, 
of equal magnitude, and surpassingly miraculous, 
was performed by St. Francis. It corroboratively 
proved, as the great changeling will tell you, that 
Christ was the veritable forerunner of St. Francis. 
The saint happened to be taking an airing in one 
of the neighboring woods, and what did he meet, 
think you, reader, during his walk and meditations ? 
He met with a ravenous wolf; but his wolfship was 
so sick and feeble, that he was incapable of motion 
in any direction for any purpose : he cast his faint 
eye, and in mute eloquence beseeched the saint to 
restore to him his lost health, and the use of his 
feeble limbs ; the saint, as the learned theologian 
Albizi tells us, was moved with compassion for the 
poor sufferer, and consented to cure him if he would 
promise to devour no more sheep. We have still 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 23 

from the same writer another evidence that Christ 
was the forerunner of St. Francis. This places the 
fact beyond all dispute, and is as clear and plain 
as any proposition, or any statement, or any opinion 
ever advanced by the great changeling of the De- 
mocratic Review, during his highest flight into the 
regions of transcendentalism. St. Francis happened 
to be acquainted with a neighboring physician, or as 
Byron would call him, "legalized assassin." The 
saint, strange as it may appear on first intuition, 
prayed that the said physician should die ; and die 
he did, sure enough ; but the prayers of the saint 
were heard, only to give him an opportunity of re- 
storing him to life, and leaving on record, amidst the 
archives of Rome, satisfactory evidence that Jesus 
Christ was the forerunner of St. Francis. 

When men are permitted to assume the name of 
the ministers of Christ, and authorized by a body of 
men composing a large portion of the human fami- 
ly, to impose such fables, as veritable facts, upon a 
portion of the children of God, what is to be ex- 
pected from them? What are free Americans to 
hope from an intercourse with them, and how 
great must be the accountability of our legislatures 
and states to build houses of worship and education 
where such fooleries and fables, as I have above 
stated, may be inculcated and taught to the children 
of the present generation ? I remember well, when 
a child, how such fables used to delight me : I be- 
lieved them, because they were told to me by my 
priests. Though descended from parents of more 
than ordinary intelligence, yet I did not question any 



24 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



statements; the veracity of which was vouched for 
by my priests : and hence it is. that for years I have 
ceased to feel the least surprise at that ignorance of 
every principle of true Christianity, under which 
foreign Roman Catholics, in this country, are labor- 
ing. Why should we therefore wonder, that they 
go even to Mass, to witness ceremonies fitting only 
for mountebanks, and excelling even those performed 
by Trippet, whose head-over-heels tumbling and 
whirling and twisting, the Right Rev. Bishop Rabe- 
lais, of the Roman Catholic church, rendered so 
famous in history. 

All the misfortunes of the Roman Catholics may 
be traced to their church and to then priests. c: Hoc 
fonte derivata." To these sources are to be attrib- 
uted all the mummeries of Masses in their churches ; 
to those causes are to be traced their idolatrous mode 
of confession, then belief in almost numberless me- 
diators between God and man, their impiety in flying 
for succor and remission for sins to St. Mary, St. 
Paul, St. Peter, and all the other saints, in place of 
a direct appeal to God. who alone can grant it. 
Darkness, as I have stated in the beginning of this 
volume, hung for a time over the primitive tribes 
and nations, which originally composed the nucleus 
of society. But how is it now ? Gloomy clouds of 
superstition hang, like a pall of death, over the pre- 
sent world. Does it not seem, when we go into a 
Roman Catholic church, and witness the puerilities 
and heathenish idolatries which we see practised 
there, and which, we know from history, are prac- 
tised over more than one half of the civilized world, 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH* 25 

that the rays of the Sun of Righteousness are ac- 
tually intercepted from us ? Does it not seem as if 
Satan had triumphed, and that primitive Christian 
simplicity had vanished from the earth, leaving be- 
hind it nothing but its ruins, which, in their propor- 
tions, still retain, though feebly shadowed, traces 
of their original beauty ? Darkness is once more, I 
apprehend, in the language of a modern writer, on 
the face of the earth ; it is upon the people, on the 
church, and on the priest ; it is upon the altar, and 
upon the ritual ; it is upon the sanctuary, upon the 
worship, and upon the worshipers • and as the same 
writer continues to express it, the languishing gates of 
Zion mourn, that God had forgotten her ; but he has 
not — He will remember his church. He has a rem- 
nant of his church yet remaining ; and though that 
remnant be scattered and trodden down by apostate 
and idolatrous Rome, their cries for deliverance will 
be heard ; the Spirit of God will move upon the 
troubled waters, and all will be still again. 

But to return to the subject of the popish Mass, 
Roman Catholics assign as a reason for confessing 
their sins to others, besides the God whom they are 
supposed to have offended, that it would be pre- 
sumption in them to appeal to him immediately, and 
that it is more proper to do so through others, whom 
they suppose to have influence with Him. This is 
an impious belief; it is an expression of distrust 
either in the power or willingness of God to par- 
don the trespasses of his erring children* The sin- 
gle idea of a doubt whether God is willing to forgive 
us our trespasses, or that he has delegated another 
3 



26 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



to do so for him, is in itself rank blasphemy. He is 
our Father, and are we not his children ? Does he 
not say to us, Matt. vii. 8. 9, " What man is there 
among you, of whom, if his son ask bread, will 
he give him a stone ? or if he ask of him a fish, 
will he give him a serpent ? If ye then, being evil, 
* know how to give good gifts to your children, how 
much more will your Father who is in heaven, give 
good things to them that ask him?" Unfortu- 
nate Roman Catholics, what more do you require ? 
The God of glory acknowledges that he is your 
father, and thus admits the endearing relationship of 
a father to his children, between himself and you. 
What more do you want ? Would a child, truly 
repentant for offending his father, ask another to in- 
tercede for him ? would he not prefer going to his fa- 
ther, and asking his forgiveness ? Would he apply to 
A, B, or C, to intercede for him ? Surely not. When 
the disciples asked their Lord and Master to teach 
them to pray, did he tell them to ask an intercessor 
to go and interfere for them ? Did he say to them, 
You are not worthy to appear before me ; ask the 
virgin Mary, the holy apostles Peter and Paul, and 
all the saints, to intercede for you ; otherwise I can 
pay no attention to you ? The Scriptures do not 
tell us that he intimated to them the propriety of such 
a course of conduct ; far from it — -Go, said he, go to 
the Father ; by which we are taught to consider that 
God is our Father, he having been reconciled to us 
through Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son. Ask 
Him, said the Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples. What 
need is there then for intercessors ? I would entreat 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHUKCH. 27 

of you, Roman Catholics, to banish from your minds 
all doubts and all fears ; there is no occasion for in- 
tercessors between your Father, who is in heaven, 
and yourselves, sinners. John hi. 16 — " God so loved 
the world, as to give his only-begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." Away, then, with all other 
intercessors. Heed not the infidel and blasphemous 
cant of your popish priests, who would withdraw 
your allegiance from your heavenly Father, and 
transfer it to the Pope of Rome and his heathenish 
myrmidons. Close up your ears, and your hearts, 
too. against the seductive sophistry of your deceitful 
priests. When they tell you to ask the intercession 
of the blessed Virgin, Peter, Paul, and all the saints, 
tell them you cannot hear to them, that you can no 
longer be deceived by them ; that you are bound to 
believe the word of God in preference to their word ; 
tell them that the apostle John informs you that " if 
any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, 
Jesus Christ the righteous," 1 John ii. 1. If the 
wily Jesuit, or secular Romish priest, should still 
urge upon you the necessity of confessing your sins 
to the saints, and asking forgiveness through their 
intercession, answer them fearlessly in the language 
of St. Paul, 1 Tim. ii. 5, " For there is one God, 
and one Mediator between God and man, the man 
Christ Jesus." Tell the crafty priest, that the doc- 
trine which he is trying to impress upon your mind, 
is palpably at variance with that which was taught 
by the inspired apostle Paul, and reduced as you are 
to the alternative of believing him and his infallible 



28 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



church, or St. Paul, that you must discard his coun- 
sel and the authority of his church, since you find 
them at variance with the letter and spirit of inspi- 
ration. Tell them that you have seriously and 
prayerfully examined the above words of St. Paul, 
and that you cannot, without a distinct avowal of 
your unbelief in inspiration, withhold your assent 
from them. Assure your reverend instructor that St. 
Paul confirmed still more distinctly, if possible, your 
entire belief in the above text; for he says again ? 
Heb. vii. 25, " He (that is, Christ the righteous) is 
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto 
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for them." Perhaps the priest who hears your 
confession, will further press upon you the authority 
of his infallible church ; undoubtedly he will assure 
you, in the slang and usual twaddle of popish priests, 
that his church is founded upon a rock, that the 
gates of hell cannot prevail against her ; that St. 
Peter, one of the saints to whom you confess, holds 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and that though 
he is long since dead, and in glory, the aforesaid keys 
are still held in safe . keeping by his successor the 
Pope of Rome, who can let you in and out, as he 
pleases, or as it may please the i7ifallible church. 
He will tell you that those texts of Scripture to 
which you refer,— and which you never should have 
read, — are of no weight against the authority of the 
infallible church. Reply to him, I entreat of you, 
Roman Catholics, in the words of Jesus Christ him- 
self, which you will find in the Gospel by John, 
xvi. 23. " Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 29 

name, he will give it unto you." This is plain lan- 
guage. It is not necessary to ask the infallible 
church to explain the meaning of this passage ; no 
priest need be consulted as to its proper interpreta- 
tion. " If you ask any thing of the Father in my 
name, he will give it to you," says the Lord Jesus 
Christ. But what says the priest, — the popish priest 
I mean, — to the sinner who feels that he has offended 
his God and his Maker ? What does he say to you, 
poor duped and deluded Roman Catholic ? I will tell 
you what your priest says : I know what he says, 
because while acting as a Roman Catholic priest, and 
before my eyes were fully opened to the light of the 
gospel, I have often told hundreds and thousands of 
you so myself ;— Come to me to confession ; confess 
to the saints and angels ; unite them all together ; 
confess your sins to them and to me, and I will for- 
give you. Do I state untruths to you ? Am I de- 
ceiving you, Roman Catholics ? If I am, tell me so, 
and I will apologize to you and the world at large, 
for being guilty of the heinous crime of wilful de- 
ception. 

I am aware that the most deceitful practices have 
been resorted to, to reduce you down to the humili- 
ating position in which you are now, in relation to 
your spiritual interests ; but it is not too late to re- 
cover the ground which you have lost. I once felt 
as you do ; my thoughts on religion were like yours : 
but the day-star from on high has been pleased to 
visit me. I have no object in deceiving you. I en- 
treat of you to come out from that spiritual darkness 
in which an interested and avaricious priesthood 
3* 



30 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



have bound, and will forever keep you, unless the 
Lord in his mercy interfere in your behalf. The 
priest who will tell you to invoke the intercession 
of the Virgin Mary, is designedly and wilfully your 
worst enemy. It is true, this is harsh language ; but 
who can suppose that your priests and your church 
are ignorant of the gospel ? And if they are not, 
the legitimate inference is ? that they are wilfully 
deceiving you, when they require of you to make, 
during the performance of the Mass, or in private, 
such a form of confession as I have given in a pre- 
vious page. Almost all your prayers and supplica 
tions are addressed to the Virgin Mary. Why is this ? 
Have you any scriptural authority for it ? You offer 
a hundred supplications and prayers to the Virgin 
Mary, to one that you offer to God, the Father, Son 
and Holy Ghost. You jepeat the Hail Mary one 
hundred, yea, one thousand times oftener than you 
do the Lord's prayer upon the mountain. Is it not 
so ? Do you deny it ? But why is it so ? " Blessed 
is the fruit of thy womb," exclaimed the woman in 
the gospel ; but did the Lord encourage these ideas, 
which this woman honestly entertained? I say, 
honestly, because she did not know better then. 
But it is not so with you, Roman Catholics. You 
ought to know better, and you would know better, 
if you would only turn a deaf ear to the language 
of your licentious priests, and listen to the voice of 
God as revealed in the Scriptures. What was the 
reply of the Savior to the woman who exclaimed, 
" Blessed be the womb that bare thee ?" " Yea, said 
the Savior, yea, rather blessed are they that hear the 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 31 

word of God, and keep it." Luke xi. 27, 28. You 
will find again, in Matt. xii. 46, that upon a certain 
occasion, when our Lord was teaching and speaking 
to the people^ that some one who happened to see 
the Virgin Mary in the audience, observed to him ? 
u Behold thy mother !' 5 Now the Romish church, 
and her learned doctors, would — impliedly at least — 
teach their followers to believe that the moment 
Jesus heard this intelligence, he would repair to his 
mother according to the flesh, and ask her what was 
her request, or what she would have him do for her. 
But what was the answer of Christ Jesus ? It was 
this, — and I wish those Roman Catholics who devote 
so many hours, and spend so much money for Masses 
and in prayers for the intercession of the Virgin Ma- 
ry, would bear it forever in mind : " Behold,' 5 says 
the Savior, stretching forth his hand to the audience 
who stood around him, among whom was his mo- 
ther, "behold my mother and my brethren! for 
whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is 
in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and 
mother, 5 ' The whole doctrine of the Romish church 
in relation to the Virgin Mary, is erroneous, unscrip- 
tural, blasphemous, and invented by man, solely for 
the purpose of increasing the revenue of their church 
by masses said in honor of her, prayers offered at 
her shrines, wells consecrated to her glory, and for 
other purposes, such as relieving souls from purga- 
tory, &c. to which I will allude hereafter. 

I have said that the doctrine of the Romish church 
in relation to the influence which papists supposed 
the Virgin Mary had with Jesus Christ, as her son 



32 



HIGH AND IOW MASS 



according to the flesh, was erroneous and blasphe- 
mous. And I have said so truly, as appears from 
the language and conduct of Jesus Christ himself. 
He never acknowledged any relationship but that 
which he had with his Father in his mediatorial 
capacity. The idea of relationship according to the 
flesh, giving to Mary any influence over her Son, is 
expressly denied by the Son himself; and thus poor 
deluded papists, who offer prayers, Masses, and in- 
cense, and indulge in such unmeaning buffoonries, in 
trying to glorify her, will find, — if permitted by their 
priests to examine the Scriptures, — that the Lord 
Jesus Christ never, even once, called her mother j 
even when hanging on the cross, he thus addressed 
his mother, who stood beneath the fatal tree on 
which he was tortured, and John the beloved disci- 
ple, who stood by her, " Woman, behold thy son ; 5 ' 
and to John he said, " Behold thy mother." There 
are some negative, that are even stronger than posi- 
tive proofs. This is one of them. It shows more 
clearly, if possible, than any positive assertion to that 
effect, that Christ wished to repudiate the belief, or 
even supposition, that his mother could have any 
influence over him. Add to this the fact, that none 
of the apostles speak of Mary in their epistles. But 
the Romish church believes, or pretends to believe, 
that none of her rites, services, or duties to God, 
can be performed correctly, if the influence of Mary 
over her Son are not loudly and prominently exhi- 
bited and sung. I remember, not many years ago, 
having had a conversation with a Roman Catholic, 
who was just about extricating himself from the 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 33 

trammels of popery , and who seemed willing to en- 
ter into conversation with me, even though I was a 
heretic. I have tried to reason with him on the 
popish doctrine of praying for the intercession of the 
Virgin Mary, in order to obtain the remission of sins. 
I quoted some of the above texts, to show him that 
the doctrines of the Romish church were erroneous 
on that subject ; but I fear my friend is still in error ? 
for he replied, as Roman Catholic priests and their 
followers do, say, in the language of Mary herself, 
u All generations will call me blessed ;" and Elisabeth 
said, " Blessed art thou amongst women." In vain 
have I told him — at least I fear so— that the Lord 
says, in one of the above passages, " Rather, blessed 
are they that hear the word of God and keep it." 

It has often appeared strange to me that Roman 
Catholics, who seem to repose so much confidence 
in the Virgin Mary, and rely so much on the effi- 
cacy of her intercession with her Son, should not be 
willing to obey her instructions and personal advice 
to themselves and others. I know of but one pre- 
cept, which has been given by the blessed Virgin 
herself, and it appears that consistency — even if the 
voice of truth itself were silent- — ought to oblige 
Roman Catholics to yield implicit obedience to that 
precept. If the Virgin Mary, as the Roman Cath- 
olics tell us, is worthy to be called Queen of glory, 
Mother of truth, and other such names and titles, she 
must be entitled to credit for veracity, in every thing 
she says ; this is no more than reasonable, to say the 
least of it, for if she is entitled to all the reverence 
and homage which papists pay her, her precepts 



34 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



deserve, at least, to be obeyed, and are worthy of 
unqualified acquiescence in all things which they 
contain. I beg the attention of all Roman Catholics 
to the following counsel which the Virgin Mary 
gives them : " Whatsoever He saith unto you, do 
ye." This is as plain as language can make it. 
She tells in express terms all her blind worshipers, 
who pray to her — or if papists will have it so — who 
only pray to her to intercede for them, not to look to 
her any longer, but to depend solely on the Son of 
God, who commands them to obey his will as it is 
revealed in the word of God. Jesus himself never 
paid any attention to the interference of the Virgin 
Mary, in the business of his divine mission, and 
when she did interfere, he even reproved her, as 
was the case at the marriage in Cana : "Woman," 
said Jesus on that occasion, " mine hour is not yet 
come." 

I would ask papists to consult the ancient liturgies 
and the primitive fathers in the church ; can they 
find among them, that confessions were made to any 
but God and the three persons of the blessed Trini- 
ty ? How truly prophetic was Timothy, when he 
made use of the following passage ! " Some shall 
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits 
and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, 
having their conscience seared as with a hot iron ; 
forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain 
from meats, which God hath created to be received 
with thanksgiving of them which believe and know 
the truth." 

I would ask every Roman Catholic who believes 



UST THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 35 

in the truth of revelation, to read this passage, and 
examine it well. Who can read the prohibitions 
alluded to, by the apostle, and commanded to be prac- 
tised by the followers of popery, and honestly say, 
that they are not the doctrines of devils ? I have 
quoted from the fathers of the church, or rather I 
have asked Roman Catholics, whether their ancient 
liturgies have left any records to prove that con- 
fessions were made to virgins, saints, apostles, or 
priests. Let me not be misunderstood. I did not 
intend, by any means, to convey the idea that the 
holy fathers of the Romish church were good and 
decisive authority in any case. There is no theolo- 
gian, or well-read scholar in ecclesiastical history, 
who does not know that the holy fathers of the Ro- 
mish church are entitled to little or no credit in a 
great number of cases. They contradict each other 
in some of the most important cases. It may also 
be said of the liturgies of the Romish church, that 
they are no evidence in a vast number of cases^ 
indeed I am safe in stating, that they are no evi- 
dence at all ; they are continually contradicting each 
other, and in any well-regulated court of law or 
equity, their testimony would be altogether and pe- 
remptorily rejected. Falsus in uno, falsus in omni- 
bus, is a safe, if not a sound rule in law. 
I I will, in a future part of this volume, show to 
Roman Catholics some of the bad effects which 
indirectly flow from the odious practice of confess- 
ing their sins to saints, angels, and priests. 
| But let us return once more to the popish Mass. 
As soon as the Confiteor, or confession, is over, the 



36 



HIGH AND LOW HASS 



priest pronounces an unqualified absolution, signing 
himself with the sign of the cross, and proceeding 
with the Mass in the following words : " Indulgen- 
tiam, absolutionem et remissionem peccatorum nos- 
trorum tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Domi- 
nus. ?? Trans. — May the omnipotent and merciful 
Lord grant us indulgence, absolution and remission 
of our sins. 

The priest then goes on to say, " Miseriatur vestri 
omnipotens Deus, et dimissis peccatis vestris, perdu- 
cat vos ad vitam seternam." 

Trans.— May the Almighty God be merciful to 
you, and forgiving all your sins, bring you to life 
everlasting. 

This is what the priest calls absolution ; but it 
differs from the absolution which is given to those 
who make a private confession to the priest, only, 
however, in one respect, that in the private confess- 
ion, the priest adds to the above, which are hidden 
from the public eye, the following words — Deinde 
te absolvo a peccatis tuis, in nomine Patris, et FiliL 
et Spiritus Sancti. 

Trans. — I absolve thee from thy sins in the name 
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

See, fellow-citizens of the Roman Catholic church, 
how your priests deceive you, and impose upon the 
credulity of a generous people who liberally and 
hospitably support them. In the public confession 
that is made at Mass, there is, seemingly, nothing so 
very objectionable. It does not appear, from the 
form of absolution which the priest gives at Mass, 
that he arrogates to himself the power of forgiving 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 37 

sin ; in that form he only prays that God may grant 
absolution and remission of sins ; but when you 
privately confess to the priest, he adds the words — 
Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis, I absolve thee from 
thy sins. 

Here the priest blasphemously pretends to exer- 
cise a power which belongs to God alone. But 
hardened as the priest is in vice, and deeply plunged 
as he is in the idolatries of popery, he cannot, he 
dare not acknowledge, in a Protestant country, that 
he possesses the power of forgiving sins ; and when 
the Protestant Christian asks him, whether he does 
or can forgive sins, he adroitly evades the question, 
or rather suppresses the truth, by saying, I can only 
pronounce them to be forgiven. 

Let me now ask you, fellow-citizens of the Roman. 
Catholic church, are you not ashamed of being so 
long the dupes of your church and your priests ? 
Many of them know and feel that they are deceiv- 
ing you ; others of them are extremely ignorant, 
and infinitely below the standard by which their 
learning and general information are measured by 
Protestants. I have confessed myself, week after 
week, and year after year, both before and after I 
became a Roman Catholic priest, and I never re- 
ceived absolution for sins, as you blasphemously 
term it, except from the priest himself, not by asking 
it for me through the mercy of God, but by pretend- 
ing to give it to me himself; not by declaring that 
my sins were forgiven by Almighty God, but forgiven 
by himself. I can also declare, and some of you 
know the truth of it, — for many of you have con- 
4 



38 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

fessed to me, over and over again, — that I never gave 
you the least intimation, by word or deed, that I had 
not the full power, in my capacity as a Romish 
priest, to forgive and pardon sins, at least up to the 
year 1822, when first I appealed to the papists of 
Philadelphia to unite with me in devising some 
means to abolish the supremacy of the pope, auricu- 
lar confession, &c. &c. in the United States ; and 
had my advice then been taken, or even my sugges- 
tions carried out, it would have saved American Pro- 
testants millions of dollars, and rescued our republic 
from the dangers which now threaten it, and which, 
if Providence does not interfere, will ultimately 
crumble into ruins. Unfortunately, at the period 
of my appeal to the Philadelphians for some re- 
form in the church of Rome in this country, things 
were not right then for any change • even the pos- 
session of wealth was more coveted than the pos- 
session of virtue. The ideas which American Pro- 
testants and foreign Roman Catholics had of right 
and wrong, in matters appertaining to government, 
were of a confused character j neither party felt the 
pangs of want, the iron hand of despotism was not 
felt by either, the political system under which we 
then lived, was thought to have arrived at perfection ; 
the warning of Washington, Jenerson, Madison, and 
others, — long-headed and far-seeing patriots, — were 
either forgotten or disregarded. The sammum 
bonum, or chief good of man, seemed to be placed 
in riches, petty splendor and wealth ; virtue, love of 
country, love of home, education, and, above all, 
love of the Word of God, with all the fine sensibili- 



IN TH£ ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 39 

'ties of the heart and soul, which its perusal never 
fails to evolve, were almost lost sight, of, or sacrificed 
on the altar of wealth. It is only now that we are 
beginning to feel some of its consequences. We 
have too long neglected the moral system, which 
alone should govern a people that wish to be moral 
themselves, and whose example should be evidence 
of their gratitude to God for such blessings as we 
enjoy in this country. The following beautiful pas- 
sage in Bolingbroke's works, — -though his lordship 
was one of the rankest infidels of the day, — made a 
strong impression upon my mind when last I peru- 
sed it. 

" It seems to me (says Bolingbroke) that in order 
to maintain the moral system of the world at a cer- 
tain point, far below that of ideal perfection^ but 
however sufficient, upon the whole, to constitute a 
state easy and happy, or, at the worst, tolerable ; I 
say, it seems to me that the Author of nature has 
thought fit to mingle, from time to time, among the 
societies of men, a few, and but few, of those on 
whom he is graciously pleased to bestow a larger 
'portion of the ethereal spirit than is given, in the 
ordinary course of his providence, to the sons of 
men. You will find (continues Bolingbroke) that 
there are superior spirits, men who show, even from 
their infancy, though it be not always perceived by 
others, perhaps not felt by themselves, that they were 
born for something more and better. Their talents 
denote their general designation."' 

How true this is, fellow-citizens ! how plainly have 
we seen it, and how little advantage have we derived 



40 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



from the fact that we have had many such spirits 
among our own ancestors ! There were among them 
men so distinguished by nature from the mass of man- 
kind who now compose the present generation, that, 
if now living, they would seem to belong to a different 
species. Scarcely any such men live now-a-days ; 
there are but comparatively few of our present 
mixed population, whose presence or absence would 
not be equally unperceived, if chance or that volatile 
and nick-named god, Vox populi, had not raised them 
to stations where their stupidity and their vices make 
them only a public misfortune. There are some 
glorious exceptions among our public men of the 
present day ; they are but few, to be sure, but still 
they are brilliant and dazzling. Whether such men 
maybe continued amongst us for any length of time, 
is known only to Him who seeth and knoweth all 
things ; but whether they are taken from us or not, 
whether they retire from the world for a moment or 
for eternity, they leave behind them a degree of 
splendor and virtuous usefulness, which will long 
survive them. 

Among the illustrious patriots of the present day, 
I trust it will not be deemed any invidious distinc- 
tion on my part, should I mention by name, one in- 
dividual, with whom I have the honor of a personal 
acquaintance. I allude to the Hon. John C. Cal- 
houn, of South Carolina. It is the fate of illustrious 
men, or perhaps I may say, it is their misfortune, 
either to be conspicuously good or notoriously wicked. 
It is their destiny to be one or the other. When- 
ever they take a part in public life, the effect can 



IN THE BOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 41 

never be indifferent — they become either the minis- 
ters of Divine vengeance, and their course through 
life is marked by desolation, the shedding of human 
blood, and oppression, or they become the benefac- 
tors of mankind and the guardian angels of their 
country, by devoting the energies of their great 
minds in trying to procure peace, liberty, and the 
free exercise of civil rights for all who are entitled 
to those blessings. Such a man do I consider John 
C. Calhoun ; and until such men are selected for 
civil honors and high public functions, the great 
moral interests of society must wither and fade. 

I am aware that this distinguished patriot, John 
C. Calhoun, has his enemies ; and who has not i 
Some dislike his free-trade principles, although those 
principles are meeting with the general approbation 
of mankind, and in all probability are likely to 
become universally adopted. Others disapprove of 
his views of institutions peculiar to the southern 
section of our country. Let not the reader mis- 
understand me here ; it is not my intention to inter- 
fere, or even give an opinion upon any of the great 
political questions which now agitate, not only the 
citizens of our own republic, but others. I must, 
however, say, in defence of an individual to whom 
God has given a larger portion of his ethereal spirit 
than falls generally to the lot of man, that John C. 
Calhoun is not properly known, nor have his views 
of the institutions of the South been duly esti- 
mated. He is emphatically a lover of peace. He 
is the friend of morality and good will among 

men. He wishes to see the " will of God done ou 
4# 



42 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



earth, as it is in. heaven." War and bloodshed re- 
ceive no countenance from him. Those who disap- 
prove of his views of the peculiar institutions of 
the South may, or may not, be sincere ; but before 
they condemn the views of Mr. Calhoun, they should 
first recollect that there are but two modes of social 
existence for human beings, — freedom or slavery. 
Man must be left to the consequences of his own 
crimes and errors, and be thus left free according to 
his opinion, or society must guard against them, by 
preventing or punishing them. Which will the 
opponents of John O. Calhoun have ? Which will 
abolitionists and the friends of popery choose ? I 
would say to them individually, Utrum horum mavis 
accipe, take your choice. It would be well if all 
men could be free, could have good wages and com- 
fortable homes, and I will not say but it is the duty 
of all men to try and effect this; but is this state 
of things, which our modern apostles, William L. 
Garrison, Abby Folsom, Abby Kelley, and Cyrus 
surnamed Lam son, advocate with so much zeal, 
possible ? Is it not a mere Utopia ? If we have no 
slavery, all must be upon an equality, and according 
to the doctrines of our modern apostles, (who differ 
with John C. Calhoun, the Hon. William H. Hay- 
wood, of North Carolina, and others,) a large por- 
tion of society will have to be reduced to the condi- 
tion of slaves, or the slaves will have to be raised to 
the condition of freemen. There must be no restric- 
tion upon their vices, they must be allowed to follow 
their natural instincts, without let or hindrance ; 
those that are industrious must support those that are 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 43 

lazy ; no inducement must be given to a life of pru- 
dence and economy ; the accumulation of wealth 
would be useless ; there is no alternative, as it ap- 
pears to several who understand this question better 
than I do • either slavery must exist, or such restric- 
tions must be laid upon the errors of mankind, and 
upon instinct itself, as society could not tolerate, and 
how is this to be done ? Perhaps the revilers and 
the opponents of John C. Calhoun may be able to 
tell. Perhaps those who disapprove of the southern 
principles of J. C. Calhoun, who by the by are nearly 
all abolitionists, however ingeniously they may deny 
the fact, may wish to substitute for our free-formed 
government the semi-papal government of Austria. 
Abolitionists, or, in other words, the friends of popery 
in the United States, would prefer that government, 
or any thing favoring popery, to any form that may 
savor of Protestantism. But if they will reflect for 
a moment, that though a popish or Austrian govern- 
ment may provide for the comfort of the slave, it 
imposes upon him the severest restrictions — restric- 
tions which the slave even in South Carolina or 
Georgia will not tolerate for a moment, and which 
the hardest master has not been known to enforce. 
No one is permitted to marry in Austria, except he 
can satisfy the authorities that he can support a 
family. Do abolitionists and papists wish such a 
form of government amongst us ? If so, they may 
rest assured, they will soon burst asunder the exist- 
ing form of society, and prepare our people for a 
papal throne amongst us. 

When those public places of trust and distinction, 



44 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



for which, as I have intimated, Nature fitted and 
fashioned great and good men, are not given to them, 
but are bestowed upon knaves and fools, or both, 
what is to be expected from a government in such 
hands ? It becomes a nuisance, and not a blessing, 
until finally the great principle of morality itself, 
without which neither individuals or nations can 
prosper, becomes utterly extinct. 

Had the counsels and warnings of some of our 
ancestors been attended to, in due time, by some of 
their degenerate descendants, how different would 
be our condition now ? Had the prophecies and pre- 
dictions and advice of Washington made a due im- 
pression upon the American mind, would any man 
dare to rise amongst us, or be allowed citizenship in 
our very midst, or dare to proclaim in our cities, on 
our streets, in our highways and by-ways, in our 
valleys, and on our hill tops, — what, fellow-citizens, 
would he have dared to proclaim ? Shall I mention 
it ? It was this, (I quote the very words,) " Ameri- 
cans shan't rule us." If the counsels of Wash- 
ington had been followed, if we were upon our 
guard, as every American, and American citizen ought 
to be, would Bishop Hughes, of New York, an ob- 
scure upstart, whom no one knew until he was acci- 
dentally elevated by a foreign power to a station 
which enabled and qualified him to act the spy and 
a traitor to our American government ; would he 
have countenanced such a proclamation ? Did not 
Jefferson too, — one of the illustrious sages of our 
country, — caution our citizens against foreign powers 
and foreign influences ? Did not Madison also warn 



IN THE KOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 45 

us against foreign intrigue and the introduction of 
despotic principles into our republic ? Did not La 
Fayette, who was himself an European and a for- 
eigner, and who knew better than any other man 
(even among those whom I have mentioned) the 
hatred of foreign governments to our republican in- 
stitutions ; did he not, 1 repeat it, say, that if ever 
this Union was dissolved, it would be done through 
the instrumentality of popish priests, every single 
individual of whom is a sworn subject of a foreign 
power, the Pope of Rome, and two of whom have 
been recently appointed, by the present President of 
the United States, chaplains in our American army. 
1 mean no disrespect, and I would ask candidly, 
whether President Polk knows any thing of the 
Roman Catholic faith ? Does he know that the po- 
pish creed, as now taught' and practised, is a sort of 
political religious system, at variance with every 
Protestant principle recognized by our government, 
or indirectly embodied in our constitution ? Does 
President Polk understand, or is he aware of the 
fact, that each of those chaplains, as well as each 
and every individual Roman Catholic priest and 
bishop in the United States, and elsewhere, is bound 
by a solemn oath to hold no faith, or give any alle- 
giance to him as President of the United States, or 
to any president, king, executive magistrate, or other- 
wise, who is not a Roman Catholic ? 

Is President Polk aware that those chaplains 
whom he has appointed in the army of the United 
States, are sworn on the Holy Evangelists to use 
every means in their power to overthrow the govern- 



46 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



ment over which he presides, and never to cease 
until the pope, or his successor in office, shall be 
recognized as the supreme executive of the United 
States ? Is he aware that those said chaplains are 
sworn to use every means in their power , — the sword, 
if necessary, — to destroy this government, or subju- 
gate it to Rome ? If he is aware of these facts, — 
though I trust, for the honor of republican principles 
and the civil rights of man, that he is not, — great 
indeed has been his criminality, I would almost say 
treachery, to the citizens of this republic. It is 
not, I hope, within the knowledge of Mr. Polk, that 
those chaplains are sworn to betray him, his govern- 
ment, and his army, though I cannot dare even to 
insinuate that a man of his information is unacquaint- 
ed with the fact. If he is an ecclesiastical histo- 
rian, or if he is acquainted with the history of na- 
tions or the causes of their decline, he must assu- 
redly know that the popish church acted a conspicu- 
ous part in these events. This is not a place, neither 
is it my intention, to question the qualifications of 
President Polk for the high office which he holds ; 
the people have chosen him, and I must only say, 
" Fiat voluntas populiJ' Besides, it may be useless 
to apply to reason, in trying to convince Mr. Polk 
of the impropriety of appointing Roman Catholic 
chaplains to our American army, ninety-nine in one 
hundred of whom are Protestants. If history does 
not misinform me, it would be little short of infatu- 
ation to try to convince any man whom chance, or 
the will of the people, (which often means one and 
the same thing,) places at the head of a people or 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 4T 

nation, by arguments derived from reason or philoso- 
phy, that he did right or wrong. It is to be pre- 
sumed that he who holds the sword in his hand, as 
Mr. Polk does, will seldom wait for the operation of 
argument. He has recently given us an instance 
of this. No unwelcome truth will find admission 
to the ears of him, who, like Mr. Polk, uses, propria 
motu, that ratio ultima regum, by which all oppo- 
sitions are cut down. 

The first step to monarchy, and monarchical de- 
signs, is war, and love of war. Nothing tickles the 
vanity, or pleases the fancy of man, elevated to* 
power, and whose mind is not chastened by a love 
of christian principles, and consequent desire of peace ? 
more than to see himself at the head of a powerful 
army ; and it is no wonder that President Polk, see- 
ing our entire army under his direction, — it is, at 
least, measurably so,— should bid defiance, and pay 
no attention to the little unarmed philosophy and 
argument which I may advance, to show him that 
he was wrong in reposing any trust or confidence in 
the sworn subjects of a foreign power. But if I 
may not be allowed to reason with Mr. Polk, I am 
at least permitted to tell him, that if he pursues such 
a system of oppression, and continues in his present 
course of patronizing and calling to his aid the mer- 
cenary spies of despotic Rome, he will, ere long, be 
greatly accessory in gothosizing our republic ; he 
will extinguish, as far as it is in his power, the light 
of learning, religion, and philosophy amongst us, 
and once more envelope in worse than Indian dark- 
ness the enlightened republic over which he presides. 



48 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



As far as lie has advanced in his presidential career, 
he is trying to diffuse among our people an unholy 
and ungodlike taste for war. The consequence must 
be, — and he knows it if he has read either the book 
of nature or the pages of history, — that a taste for 
war always tends to corrupt the morals of a people ; 
it teaches and encourages them in the habits of idle- 
ness, checks the honorable pursuits of useful indus- 
try, and substitutes in its place nothing better than 
a trifling, useless activity, War habituates man to 
subjection. A certain discipline is necessary in times 
of war, which has a tendency to introduce despo- 
tism in its worst forms, and it is invariably the con- 
sequence, when a war is continued for a length of 
time in any country, that a despotic government not 
only exists, but is found absolutely necessary. How 
Mr. Polk's warlike movements may terminate, Prov- 
idence alone can tell ; how long the war which he 
has waged per se may continue, we cannot predict ; 
but what its consequences will be upon the manners, 
habits, industry, and morals of our people, can be 
easily imagined. But a truce with Mr. Polk — let us 
rather once more return to the Mass. 

The Mass proceeds from where I left it as follows : 

J?.— Et inclinatus prosequitur. 
Traits. — The priest, bowing down, proceeds, and 
says, 

S. — Deus tu conversus vivificabis nos. 
Trans. — Thou, O God, being now favorable to 
us, wilt enliven and refresh us. 
Res. — Et plebs tua lsetabitur in te. 
Ans. — And thy people will rejoice in thee. 



IN THE KOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



49 



— Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam. 
Priest. — O Lord, show thy mercy upon us. 
J{ eSt — Et salutare tiium da nobis. 
Ans. — And grant us thy salvation. 

— -B omine ; exaudi orationem meam 
Priest. — Lord, hear my prayer. 
Pes. — Et clamor meus ad te veniat. 
Ans. — And let my cry come unto thee. 
S. — Dominus vobiscum. 
Priest. — The Lord be with you. 
Res. — Et cum spiritu tuo. 
Ans. — And with thy spirit. 

JR. — Et extendens ac jungens manus, clara voce 
dicit, " Oremus," et ascendens ad altare dicit secreto. 

Trans. — And the priest extending and joining his 
hands, says with a loud voice, Let us pray ; and 
going up to the altar, repeats secretly to himself. 

S. — Aufer a nobis, qusesumus, Domine, iniquitates 
nostras, ut ad sane t a sanctorum puris mereamur 
mentibus introire. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. 
Amen. 

Trans. — Take away from us, we beseech of thee, 
0 Lord, our iniquities, that we may be worthy to 
enter with pure minds into the Holy of Holies ? 
through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

R. — Deinde manibus junctis super altare inclina- 
tus, dicit. 

Trans. — Then bending or bowing over the altar 
with joined hands, the priest says, 

S. — Oramus te, Domine, per merita sanctorum 
tuorum, (osculatur altare in medio) quorum reliquia 
5 



OD HIGH AND LOW MASS 

hie sunt, et omnium sanctorum, ut indulgere digne- 
ris omnia peccata mea. Amen. 

Trans. — We beseech thee, O Lord, by the merits 
of thy saints, (the priest here kisses the altar in the 
middle,) whose relics are here, and all other saints, 
that thou wouldst vouchsafe to forgive all my of- 
fences. Amen. 

Will papists ask their priests, why the bones or 
relics of saints are deposited in the middle of the 
altar? For what purpose, or for what object, are 
they put there ? Your priests may tell you, Roman 
Catholics, that they only follow the example of 
primitive Christians in depositing the bones and re- 
lics of departed saints in the middle of the altar ; 
but here they deceive you, as well as in other things ; 
they misrepresent, not only the object, but the prac- 
tice, of primitive Christians. There is not an in- 
stance on record, from which it can be inferred that 
the primitive Christians deposited the bones of saints 
in their altars ; but such was their veneration for 
some of the first martyrs to the cause of Christ, 
that they were in the habit of erecting churches on 
those spots where these glorious martyrs suffered and 
died ; but there is not an instance to be found where 
they exhumed, or caused to be disinterred, the bones 
of dead men, to be deposited in the altars of their 
churches— this was reserved for the Romish church 
and Romish priests, after they degenerated and apos- 
tatized from the faith of Christ. 

The list of relics, dead bones, &c. &c. now made 
use of, and exhibited by Romish priests for the pur- 
pose of imposing upon the credulity of their blind 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 51 

followers, is so great that it defies calculation, and 
is considered an inexhaustible source of revenue. 
If you go into Roman Catholic countries, you will 
see exhibited, for the accommodation of the faithful, 
relics, Agnus Dei's, crosses, scapularies, beads, drops 
of milk, which, they say, were taken from the blessed 
Virgin Mary, some of her hair, portions of her toe- 
nails, ashes, rags, clothes in which the infant Savior 
was swaddled, and other innumerable precious gew- 
gaws, which, as they tell us, possess most astonishing 
and marvellous properties. Some of them have the 
power of fortifying us against temptation ; others can 
drive away the devil, and are a certain remedy for the 
prevention of sudden calamities. Will the reader's 
curiosity induce him to bear with me while I enu- 
merate the names of a few of those relics which are 
preserved in Roman Catholic churches, and which the 
great body of the Catholics are persuaded by their 
priests to venerate, to bow to, and to kiss with the 
most reverential devotion ? The following are some 
of them, viz. : A piece of our Lord's knife ; a bone 
of St. Lawrence ; a shred of St. Martin's cloak, and 
a piece of his staff; an earthen drinking-pot of St. 
Hippo! ytus the martyr ; a crystal vessel containing 
two ribs of St. Lawrence ; a hand of St. John the 
evangelist : another hand of St. Paul ; a cheek of 
St. Ethelbert, with four of his teeth ; the arm of St. 
Osith, holding her own head, which had been previ- 
ously cut off, in her hand ; the arm of the great St. 
Augustin, for which, they tell us, king Canute paid 
one hundred talents of silver and one of gold, equal 
to about $50,000 American money. It would be, as 



52 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



a writer in the American Quarterly Review properly 
observes, a waste of time and patience to detail the 
notorious frauds which popish priests have, from time 
to time, practised upon mankind. I will, however, 
take the liberty of mentioning one more instance. It 
occurred in the time of king Edward VI. During 
that reign, and for a long time before, it was a general 
belief in the Romish church, that the teeth of Ap- 
pollonia were a cure for the tooth-ache ; they were 
in great demand among the poor and simple fol- 
lowers of the popish church ; women carried them 
about in their dresses ; they were deposited in the 
middle of every popish altar. King Edward was 
informed that an immense number of those teeth 
were in use among his people ; but being young, — 
as we know from the fact of his having ascended 
the throne of England at the age of ten years, — he 
was unwilling to take any steps to prevent this cry- 
ing villany by which popish priests were robbing 
his people of their well-earned wages ; he summoned 
his advisers around him, and with their advice and 
consent, he appointed a certain officer, whose duty 
it was to receive all those teeth, and issued a procla- 
mation, commanding all his subjects who had any 
of them in their possession, to bring them to the 
aforesaid officer. The result was, that there were 
several hogsheads-full of them found and duly depo- 
sited with the government officer. Bushels of those 
teeth, nay, cart-loads of them, might be found at 
this day in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and even 
Ireland ; nor should I be in the least surprised if 
some should be found snugly stowed away in certain 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 53 

altars in Boston, New York, and other cities in the 
United States. Popish bishops could not have the 
face of making this fact public, but they dare not 
deny it ; and, although they cannot make any profit- 
able use of those pretended teeth of St. Appollonia 
at the present moment, still they see, or think they 
see, the hour approaching when they may be as 
available as any other cash article in the market. 

I will return to the Mass, and continue my com- 
ments upon it. 

R. — In missa solemni celebrans antequam legat 
iiitroitum benedicit incensum dicens, ab illo bene ^ 
dicaris in cujus honorem cremaberis. Amen. Et 
accepto thuribulo a Diacono, incensat altare, nihil 
dicens. Postea Diaconus, recepto thuribulo a cele- 
brante, incensit ilium tantum. Deinde celebrans 
signans se signo crucis, incipit Introitum ; quo finite, 
junctis manibus, alternatim cum ministris dicit. 

Trans. — In solemn or high Masses, the officiating 
priest, before he reads the Introite, (consisting of 
short portions of Scripture, different upon different 
days,) blesses the incense, saying, "May you be 
blessed (signing it with the sign of the cross) by 
him in whose honor you will be burnt. Amen." 
Then taking the thurible, or vessel which contains 
the incense, from the deacon, he incenses the altar, 
in silence. Afterwards the deacon taking the incense 
vessel from the officiating priest, and signing himself 
with the sign of the cross, begins to repeat the In- 
troite, which being ended, he repeats alternately with 
the ministers or clerks — 

R- — Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison, Kvrie eleison, 

5 # 



54 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



Christe eleison, Christ e eleison, Christ e eleison, Kyrie 
eleison, Kyrie eleison. 

Trans.-*— Lord have mercy upon me, three times ; 
Christ have mercy upon me, three times ; Lord have 
mercy upon me. 

R. — Postea in medio altaris extendens, ac jungens 
manus, caputque aliquantulum inclinans, die it (si di- 
cendum est) " Gloria in excelsis Deo/' et prosequitur 
junctis manibus. Cum dicit, Adoramus te, gratias 
agimus tibi, Jesu Christe, et suscipe deprecationem, 
inclinat caput ; et in fine dicens " Cum Spiritu Sane- 
to/' signat se fronte et pectus. 

Trans. — Next, the priest extending and joining 
his hands over the middle of the altar, bowing his 
head a little, says the prayer (if it be said on that 
day) of " Glory to God in the highest ;" and con- 
tinues it with his hands joined together. When he 
says, We adore thee and give thee thanks, O Lord 
Jesus Christ, and receive our prayer, or deprecation, 
to avert the consequence of our sins, he bows his 
head, and at the conclusion saying, With the Holy 
Spirit, he makes the sign of the cross on his fore- 
head and breast. 

Will the Roman Catholic ask his priest, whom he 
now sees crossing himself, what is the use or mean- 
ing of all this crossing, capering, and twirling of his 
limbs and body ? Assuredly, while he is devoutly 
offering to the Father of heaven and earth the holy 
Mass, there can be no devils or demons playing or 
dancing around his sacred person, which he might 
drive away by these divine antics. 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 55 
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO. 

H, — Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax, ho- 
minibus bonae voluntatis.. Laudamus te, benedici- 
mus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te. Gratias agimus 
tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam, Domine Deus, 
Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Filii 
unigenite, Jesu Christe, Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, 
Filius Patris, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere no- 
bis, dui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe d_eprecatio- 
nem nostram. Giui sedes ad dextram Patris, miserere 
nobis. Gluoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus. 
Tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spi- 
ritu, in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. 

Trans. — Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, good will towards men. We praise thee, we 
bless thee,we adore thee, we glorify thee. We give 
thee thanks on account of thy great glory, Lord God, 
heavenly King, God the Father Almighty. O Lord, 
the only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, O Lord God, 
Lamb of God, Son of the Father, who takest away 
the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Thou 
who takest away the sins of the world, receive our 
prayer. Thou that sittest at the right hand of the 
Father, have mercy upon us. Since thou only art 
holy, thou only art the Lord. Thou art the highest, 
O Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the 
glory of God the Father. Amen. 

This is a sublime and beautiful prayer, and was 
in general use in the Christian church during the 
days of her purity. Here the several persons of the 
blessed Trinity are directly addressed ; no petitions 
were offered the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, St. Paul, and 



56 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



other saints. Why do not Roman Catholic priests 
pursue a similar course on all occasions when they 
are worshiping God? Why not address all their 
petitions to Him who sitteth forever upon the -throne 
at the right hand of his Father ? 

R. — Deinde osculatur altare in medio, et versus 
ad populum, dicit, "Dominus vobiscum." Res. — 
" Et cum spiritu tuo." Postea dicit " Oremus," et 
orationes, unatn aut plures, ut ordo officii postulat : 
sequitur Epistola, Tractus, vel Alleluia, cum versu, 
aut sequentia, ut postulat tempus. His finitis, si est 
missa solemnis, Diaconus deponit librum evangelo- 
rum super medium altaris, et celebrans benedicit in- 
censum ut supra, deinde Diaconus ; genuflexus ante 
altare manibus junctis, dicit. ♦ 

Trans. — Then the priest kisses the altar in the 
middle, and turning to the people, says, The Lord 
be with you. And they answer by the clerk, And 
with thy spirit. After this, he says, Let us pray, 
and prays one or more, as the order of the particular 
daily office requires. The Epistle follows, then the 
Gradual, the Tract, or Hallelujah, with a verse se- 
que?itia, as the time requires. [All these are titles 
given to several prayers or passages in the holy 
scriptures, but which vary upon different Sundays 
and festivals.] All these being finished, if it be a 
solemn high mass, the deacon lays down the gospels 
upon the middle of the altar, and the officiating 
priest blesses the incense, then the deacon ; kneeling 
before the altar, with his hands joined, says, 

R. — Munda cor meum ac labia mea, Omnipotens 
Deus, qui labia Isaiae prophetss calculo mundasti 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 57 

ignito ; ita me tua grata miseratione dignere mundare, 
ut sanctum Evangelium tuum digne valeam nuntiare, 
per Christum Domiimm nostrum. Amen. 

Trans— Cleanse my heart and lips, O omnipotent 
God, who cleansed the lips of the prophet Isaiah 
with a burning coal. So vouchsafe to cleanse me, 
by thy gracious compassion, that I may be enabled 
worthily to proclaim thy blessed Gospel ; through 
Christ our Lord. Amen. 

R. — Postea accipit librum de altare, et mrsus genu- 
flexus benedictionem petit a sacerdote, dicens, " Jube, 
Do mine, benedicere." 

T. — After this, he, the deacon, takes up the book 
from the altar, and again kneeling down beseeches a 
blessing from the priest, saying, " O Lord, command 
him to bless me." 

i?. — Sacerdos respondet. 

The priest replies— 

R. — Dominus sit in corde tuo et in labiis tuis, ut 
digne et competenter annuntiaris Evangelium suum. 
In nomine Patris et Filii «J« et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. 

T. — May the Lord be in your heart, and in your 
lips, that you may worthily, and competently, pro- 
claim his Gospel, in the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, [he crosses himself here, we know not 
why,] and of the Holy Ghost. Amen, 

R. — Et accepta benedictione, osculatur manum 
celebrantis, et cum aliis ministris incenso et lumi- 
naribus. accedens ad locum Evangelii, stans junctis 
manibus dicit, "Dominus vobiscum." Res. — Et 
cum spiritu tuo. Et pronuntians sequentia sancti 
Evangelii secundum N . Sive initium, pollice 



68 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



dextrae maims signat librum in principio Evangelii, 
quod est lecturus, deinde seipsum in fronte, ore et 
pectore ; et turn ministri respondent, " Gloria tibi, 
Domine," incensat ter librum. Postea prosequitur 
Evangelium junctis manibus. Q,uo finito, subdiaco- 
nus defert librum sacerdoti, qui osculatur Evange- 
lium ; dicens, "Per evangelica dicta deleantur nostra 
delicta." 

Trans. — The deacon having received the celebra- 
ting priest's blessing, kisses his hand, and approach- 
ing with the other attendants or clerks, with the in- 
cense and lights, to the place where the Gospel is, 
and standing with joined hands, says, " The Lord be 
with you." Ans. "And with thy spirit;" and pro- 
nouncing the Sequentia, or following, of the holy 

gospel according to "N ," that is, any of the 

four gospels. Or he says, " The beginning," he 
signs the sign of the cross with the thumb of his 
right hand in the beginning of the Gospel he is about 
to read. And he then crosses himself from the fore- 
head, mouth, and breast ; and while the attendants 
reply, " Glory be to thee, O Lord," he incenses the 
book three times, and afterwards reads the Gospel, 
his hands being joined ; which being ended, the sub- 
deacon takes the book to the priest, who kisses the 
Gospel, saying, " May our sins be forgiven through 
the words contained in the Gospel." 

Can the blind devotee who goes to hear Mass, and 
sees it performed in the above manner, and in strict 
conformity with the rubrics, — which I deem it pru- 
dent thus far to give in Latin and in English — in 
this crossing, removing of books and gospels from 



IN THE ROMAN' CATHOLIC CflttTRCH. 59 

one end to another, — can he perceive any advantage 
from offering incense to the gospel, or to the priest ? 
Is the gospel made more pure by this filthy incense ? 
Does the priest become more sanctified ? Are his 
sins cleansed, and his life become more holy, by be- 
ing enveloped in a cloud of smoke, so impure and 
disgusting, that the strongest stomach of all within 
its influence shrinks from it, almost with nausea and 
vomiting ? 

I exaggerate nothing here, Many of my fellow^ 
citizens in Boston, where these pages are to be pub* 
lished, can testify to the truth of what I now state 
of the popish Mass. Were any such practices, as 
burning incense and lighting candles in noon-day, 
and under the full blaze of the light of heaven, ever 
known to the primitive Christians? Is there any 
thing more silly, unmeaning, or more idolatrous to 
be found among the benighted tribes of heathens 
that ever lived in the most secluded regions of the 
globe? Nothing like it, I believe, has ever been 
witnessed. Can the Roman Catholic point out to 
me a pagan tribe, a pagan priest, or pagan church, 
that inculcates upon the human mind grosser idolatry 
and darker superstition, than that which the popish 
church and her priests inculcate upon American citi- 
zens, and all others who are cursed with the exist- 
ence of their immoralizing creed and practices ? 

The Hindoo points us to his idol or his god, which 
he made with his own hands, out of wood, brass,, 
iron, or some other metal : he would tell us, if we 
were among his people, There is my god. Is not 
the Hindoo far less idolatrous than the papist ? He 



50 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



has never heard of the name of Jesus ; he never saw 
his gospel ; he never was taught to love his name, 
or to revere his infinite holiness. The Hindoo is 
comparatively guiltless : he is guileless too ; he is 
honest in what he does j he acts according to the 
light that is in him. Miserable papist ! is not even 
the Hindoo a reproach to you ? He, in most cases, 
shapes his god in the similitude of man ; but what 
is the shape of your God — that God whom you wor- 
ship, and to whom you bow the knee in adoration, 
during the performance of Mass ? It has no shape 
which could entitle it to the reverence or respect 
even of a Hindoo. It is but a wafer, moulded out 
of paste ; a common cracker, which your priests, by 
pronouncing four Latin words, the meaning of which 
but very few of you know, he transforms into the 
God of glory. He only says, Hoc est corpus meum, 
and, presto, this piece of paste or cracker becomes 
the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ. 

Allusion has been made to, or rather mention has 
been made of the word incense ; there are but few, 
at least among our American Protestants, who have 
any idea of what is meant by incense used in the 
Roman Catholic church. Many, however, of our 
Bostonians have witnessed the practice of offering 
incense to the consecrated wafer, or cracker, which 
the Catholic priests pretend to metamorphose into the 
God of heaven and earth. The priests of paganism 
are in the habit of offering incense to their idol gods ; 
and the incense which they offer is of the same 
character, and, I believe, partly composed of the 
same materials as that which is used in the Roman 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 61 

Catholic church. If any of my Protestant fellow- 
citizens have the least curiosity to know how a 
Roman Catholic priest offers incense to those innu- 
merable gods, which he has the power of manufac- 
turing by the dozen, I would advise him to go to the 
Roman Catholic church at which Bishop Fitzpatrick 
of Boston, or any other Roman Catholic priest may 
next perform high Mass. and there he can see the 
whole performance. The priest is furnished with 
what he calls a crucible ; a few coals of fire are 
placed in the bottom of this crucible, on which the 
officiating priest strews some particles of a substance 
resembling rosin, and which being a highly combus- 
tible substance, emits a dense and dark smoke, highly * 
offensive both to the sense of smelling and seeing. 
As soon as the fire acts upon this substance, and the 
smoke is well up, the priest takes the crucible or 
censer in his hand, which is suspended by a 
chain about six feet long, and covered, so that no 
particle can be thrown off except the smoke, which 
is freely emitted through the cover, perforated with 
holes for that purpose. This he swings to the full 
length of the chain. He first smokes his cracker- 
god, next the altar, the Mass book, and, if there be 
any bishop present, never did a Dutchman find him- 
self in such a cloud from the Yirginia weed, as his 
lordship finds- himself in the twinkling of an eye. 
Is there an honest, candid Roman Catholic, who can 
witness this mummery without a blush, nay, with- 
out a tear ? O may it be a tear of sorrow that he 
was born and educated in a church where such pa- 
ganism is practised, and where his heart has been 
6 



62 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



estranged, by such vile and idolatrous practices, from 
the true worship of the living God. 

It is proper that American Protestants should un- 
derstand that there is in the Roman Catholic church 
a high Mass and a low Mass ; incense is seldom 
offered, except at the high Masses. I maybe asked, 
what difference there is between a high and a low 
Mass. I must reply, there is none at all in the Masses 
themselves ; but there is a vast difference between 
the two, in a pecuniary point of view. High Mass 
costs twice, and often ten times as much as a low 
Mass. I have said both Masses myself, and been 
paid for both. The ordinary price of saying a low 
* Mass is one dollar, though the dupe for whom, or by 
whose direction it may be said, may give what he 
pleases ; but the price of a high Mass varies from 
fifty to five hundred dollars, or more. The reason 
which priests assign for this great difference of price, 
is this : the parish priest, or the priest who is settled 
in the church in which high Mass is ordered to be 
said, has the liberty of inviting as many priests as 
he may think proper or necessary, to attend the sol- 
emu service. High Masses are generally said for the 
dead, for the purpose of delivering their souls from 
hell or purgatory, and as the settled or parish priest 
is supposed to be the best judge of what amount of 
prayers and number of priests will be necessary to 
deliver the soul of his departed parishioner from hell, 
he is allowed, by the surviving friends of the de- 
ceased, to use his own discretion as to the number 
of priests necessary for the purpose ; of course, a 
larger sum is requisite, and hence it is, that the par- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 63 

ish priest can, with much show of plausibility, ask 
a higher price for a high than for a low Mass. 

I may return hereafter to the subject of high 
Masses ; but even so, I would recommend to my Pro- 
testant fellow-citizens to avail themselves of the 
first opportunity to visit some Catholic church, when 
high Mass is performed. It will prove a sorrowful 
source of amusement to as many of them as may be 
true Christians, and who love the name or delight in 
the service of God. A perfect idea or true descrip- 
tion of the paganisms and idolatries of popery can- 
not be given to Protestant Christians, unless they 
can see them with their own eyes, and hear them 
with their own ears. Have you, fellow-citizens, ever 
attended any of those exhibitions which are often 
given in Europe, and not unfrequently in this coun- 
try also, by Chinese jugglers ? They are disgusting 
and revolting enough. No man or woman of deli- 
cate feelings or of fine mind, desires to witness a 
repetition of them. Have you, American Protest- 
ants, ever witnessed or heard the death-songs of our 
own Indians ? If you have, I would ask you with 
what sorrow, and with what feelings of commiseration 
for these poor children of nature, you departed from 
them. Were not their howlings frightful? Were 
not their gestures, though frantic, frightful and affect- 
ing ? Did you not return home more determined 
than ever to do something for their improvement ? 
Did you not say, with more zeal and fervor than be- 
fore, - - God speed the missionary in his efforts to 
spread the gospel of Christ among these children of 
the woods and wilds. 



64 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



Here, en passant, will the reader permit me to ask, 
why something is not done to check popish idolatry, 
and to ameliorate the condition of papists. Is there 
any thing more dark, dismal, and frightful in the 
death songs of the Indian, than there is in the popish 
song, or chant as they term it, during the celebration 
of high Mass ? Did ever an Indian chief look more 
ludicrously solemn, or was he more fantastically 
dressed, than the Romish priest who presides at the 
celebration of this Mass ? Did he ever emit from 
his lungs more lugubrious tones or unmeaning sounds, 
for the edification of the Braves and squaws of his 
tribe, during the performance of the most solemn 
death songs, than a Romish priest does, for the edifica- 
tion of his followers at the celebration of high Mass ? 
Go, and see, and hear for yourselves, fellow-citizens. 
But says the American Protestant, O, "let the papists 
alone j" they are a harmless people — they are a very 
different people from the Indians : we have removed 
the Indians from amongst us, and perhaps dealt rather 
harshly with them, but the savages deserved it ; their 
war dances, death songs, howlings, &c. &c. became 
intolerable to us ; it was absolutely necessary either 
to civilize or christianize them ; and apart from all 
this, they absolutely refused— and some of them do 
so at the present moment — to submit to our form of 
government, and claimed the right of living among 
us under a separate government, such as their chiefs 
and sachems may approve of, and under which they 
may worship the Great Spirit as they pleased : but 
we could not tolerate an imperium in imperio, and 
therefore it was necessary to get rid of them alto- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 65 

gether, or instruct them in the doctrines of the Bible. 
Alas, poor human nature ! how easily does man 
argue himself out of the paths of consistency, duty, 
and even common sense. "Let the papist alone, " 
says the American Protestant. Why, let me ask, 
should the papist " be let alone ?" Why remove the 
Indian from the land of his birth ? You have given 
your reasons, substantially, in the above few words, 
or rather I have taken the liberty of giving them for 
you. Have I given them correctly ? If not, I beg 
some one to put me right. I would now earnestly 
ask American Protestants, why do not the same rea- 
sons which induced them to remove the Indians and 
other savages beyond the limits of our government, 
compel them either to remove the Roman Catholics 
beyond the borders of Protestant American civiliza- 
tion, or take more active means to bring them to the 
knowledge of the true God and the gospel of Jesus 
Christ ? The same argument holds good in both 
cases. The savage worships a god or gods, whom 
Protestant Christians do not recognize ; does not a 
Roman Catholic do the same ? Will an American 
Christian bow the knee or pay homage to the popish 
god, or gods, which are made of paste or crackers ? 
He will not. And why not remove the papist, or 
why hold any fellowship with him, rather than with 
the savage ? There is no reason why he should pro- 
tect the one, and withhold protection from the other. 
The Indian demands, as his inalienable right, a dis- 
tinct and separate form of government from ours. 
Do not Roman Catholics require a distinct govern- 
ment from ours too ? Nay, do they not swear that 



66 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



"Americans shan't rule them?" Why then, in the 
name of consistency, are not those papists treated by 
us as we have treated the savages, or compel them 
to submit to our government of just laws and free 
institutions ? O do, Protestant Christians, " let the 
papists alone;" say not an angry word to them. Do 
more — assure Mr. Polk, that if he will graciously 
appoint a few more of them chaplains in our armies, 
we will re-elect him President of the United States. 

It may be supposed — and no doubt I shall be ac- 
cused of doing so — that I am insinuating accusations 
against Roman Catholics and their priests, which 
they do not deserve at our hands. But is it so ? It 
is not ; history assures us that they have never been 
true in their allegiance to any Protestant govern- 
ment. If we look to their conduct in Ireland at the 
present moment, it will be seen by the most careless 
amongst us, that their priests, under the guidance of 
that popish agent, O'Connell, are leaving nothing 
undone to alienate the allegiance of the Roman Ca- 
tholics from the Protestant government of Great 
Britain ; and is not the same agent, O'Connell, pur- 
suing a similar course with regard to the Protestant 
government of this country? " Americans shan't 
rule us," says Bishop Hughes, of New York. By 
looking back to the history of the Repeal movement 
in Ireland, in December, 1844, and at the movements 
of the same party in this country, particularly at 
New York, Baltimore, Boston, and Philadelphia, we 
find that the same treasonable spirit which actuates 
the Roman Catholics of Ireland, under their leader 
O'Connell, has crossed the Atlantic, taken possession 



If? THE BOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 6? 

of the Roman Catholic priesthood in the United 
States, and is now proclaimed by them throughout 
the length and breadth of this Protestant country. 

In December, 1844, the following resolution was 
adopted at a meeting of the clergy of the Roman 
Catholic church in Ireland : — " Resolved, That we, 
the clergy in public meeting assembled, declare and 
pronounce, in presence of our country, and before 
Europe and America^ and in the sight of heaven, to 
use every exertion to free our native land from be- 
ing legislated for by others than our inhabitants 
that is, others than Roman Catholics^ for that is the 
meaning of the resolution. Resolves to the same 
effect were passed in this country nearly at the same 
time, but with this difference alone, that the papists 
were emboldened by the apathy and apparent cow- 
ardice of Americans, to throw off all disguise and 
respect for our laws, and declare that " Americans 
shan't rule us." By this was meant, clearly and ob- ; 
viously, Protestants shan't rule us. A well-founded 
fear of the British laws and government prevented 
the Irish Roman Catholic traitors from resolving that 
Great Britain should not rule them ; but they felt: 
under no restraint in this country, and therefore 
boldly and fearlessly declared that " Americans shanH 
rule them" 

There is no mistaking the intentions of the Roman, 
Catholics, or of their priests, in issuing or counte- 
nancing this bold defiance of the American govern- 
ment and its laws. It was not the intention of the 
Roman Catholic priests who countenanced this trea^- 
son, to insinuate, even indirectly, that that portion 



68 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



of our citizens, who are Roman Catholics, should be 
prevented from a lawful participation in governing 
them ; this was far from their intention. Disguise 
it as they may, they meant — and they meant nothing 
else — that no government, except that of the pope, 
should rule them. 

It is well worthy of remark, as an English writer 
observes, that all treasons and disorganizing measures 
which are hatched under the wings and influence of 
popish priests, should be brought to light, chiefly 
on the Sabbath, or, as they term it, on Sundays. 
The subjects of the Pope are compelled on that day 
to hear Mass ; they are not permitted to go into any 
churches but their own ; they are consequently, in 
general, alone ; and the priests find their people in 
a better state of mind to receive their treasonable re- 
marks, than at any other time. Americans do not 
understand this ; but Daniel O'Connell in Ireland, 
and all popish agents in the United States, perfectly 
comprehend the whole of it. We have a plain in- 
stance of this, at a meeting of the Irish Roman Ca- 
tholics held recently in Ireland. O'Connell, after 
addressing a large concourse composed altogether of 
Roman Catholics, bishops and priests, dismisses the 
meeting in the following words : " Talk of what 
1 have said on your way to Mass;" that is, plan 
your treasonable designs, plot the overthrow of the 
government, and devise means for the erection of a 
popish throne upon its ruins. 

Is not the Catholic priesthood of the United States 
following in the footsteps of the illustrious O'Con- 
nell ? I would ask you, Americans, whether you 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 69 

have attended Mass, or any portion of the Roman 
service, during Sundays, or at other times, on the 
eve of a presidential election ? Have you not heard 
the popish priests — those wolves in sheep's clothing- — ■ 
use all the influence they had with their people to 
induce them to give their votes for their favorite 
candidate ? And who is that candidate, generally ? 
Some individual, — no matter who, — whom they 
suppose to be favorable to their cause and the ulti- 
mate ascendency of their principles. Did a Protest- 
ant clergyman presume to dictate to his people for 
whom they should vote how long, think you, would 
it be before he might receive a dismissal from his 
charge ? How would his impertinent interference 
in the politics of his country be tolerated by his peo- 
ple ? You yourselves, Protestant Christians, can an- 
swer this question. But you dare not interfere with 
popish priests. They call you pirates, and sons of 
pirates ; they designate you as cowards, and count- 
ing as they do upon your further forbearance, I should 
not be in the least surprised if, by and by, they tried 
the effect of their shelalays upon your sensibilities, 
before you will resist their intrusions upon your 
rights and free institutions. 

O'Oonnell, the Pope's agent in Ireland, at a recent 
meeting of repealers, —or, to speak more intelligibly, 
of Irish priests, — uses the following words : "Ireland 
for the Irish. Nothing else will do for us, until we 
have Ireland for the Irish. O, it will not — cannot— 
be twelve months without a repeal of the Union." By 
this, O'Connell meant — and so do all repealers in the 
United States — the overthrow of all Protestant gov- 



70 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



ernments. " I will tell you what," said O'Connell, 
(snapping his fingers,) " Federalism by which he 
meant Protestantism, " is not worth that ; and before 
twelve months the result will be seen. 77 This dema- 
gogue, O'Connell, — who defies all laws, human and 
divine, unless they emanate from the Pope, — has the 
sanction, and is countenanced by every Roman Ca- 
tholic priest in the United States. O'Connell will 
hear to no such thing as an appeal to the constituted 
authorities of the Protestant government under which 
he lives. He compares an appeal to the law of the 
land — unless that land is a popish land, and under a 
papal government— to an appeal to the king of 
Ashantee : and I venture to say, that before twenty 
years pass over our heads, his followers in this coun- 
try, and all the followers of the Pope, will regard 
our laws and our government, as it is at present ad- 
ministered by Protestant rulers, with as little respect 
as that of the king of Ashantee himself. An in- 
stance of the truth of this assertion — and it is but 
one of a thousand — occurred on the 19th of July, 
1846, in the peaceable and quiet city of Boston. I 
give the circumstance as taken from the Boston Mail 
of the day following. 

j " Our city was the scene yesterday (Sunday) of a 
disgraceful disturbance, which at one time threatened 
the most serious consequences. 

r " About 7 o'clock, P. M. a difficulty arose in Ham- 
ilton street between two young men, as we learn, 
when, as usual, a large crowd collected, which com- 
pletely blockaded the street. The police were soon 
on hand, arrested a few of the ringleaders, and were 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 71 

conducting them to jail, when a violent and despe- 
rate attempt at rescue was made. Marshal Tukey 
was conspicuous in the affray, calling on the citizens 
to maintain order and render assistance to the officers.' 
His appeal seemed to have little effect on the rioters, 
for in Batterymarch street he was rudely attacked, 
and a wound inflicted on his face, causing the blood 
to flow freely. Constable Dexter also received a 
severe blow on the right cheek, and was otherwise 
roughly handled. 

u After a fight of about twenty minutes, when at 
least a thousand people were collected, the officers 
succeeded in capturing the principal offenders, and 
lodged four or five of them in jail. Great credit is 
due to the city marshal and his aids for their heroic 
and successful efforts to quell this dangerous mob, 1 
which was the most alarming that has occurred since 
the famous Broad street riot. Mr. Tukey, although 
he called on the people for aid, received none, but 
on the contrary, insult and injury ; being surrounded 
by a lawless gang, who were unaware, probably, of 
his official station. During the battle he lost his 
hat, and was obliged to walk through Batterymarch, 
Kilby, State, and Court streets, uncovered. 

".On the whole, it was a most disgraceful pro- 
ceeding, and we hope, for the credit of our city, it 
will not be repeated. " 

A capital anecdote is told of this traitor, O'Con- 
nell, the Pope's representative in Ireland ; it is related 
in the London Quarterly Review, of January, 1845. 
I give it in the words, or nearly so, of the highly- 
gifted editors of that clever and talented periodical. 



72 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



" At the opening of a meeting held in Mullagh- 
most 3 O'Connell made his appearance, dressed in a 
collar of gold, which was handed to him by one Mark 
O'Callaghan. He wore a green velvet cap, resem- 
bling in form an old Milesian crown. This crown 
was handed to him by the same Mark O'Callaghan. 
The great liberator modestly accepted the crown, 
and pledged himself that he would wear it till his 
dying day" 

O thou greatest of all deities — popish impudence ! 
Who could refrain from laughing at seeing this trai- 
tor, O'Connell, wearing a green velvet cap in the 
shape of a crown ? But this whole melodrame 
was not without its signification. The deluded 
Catholics saw in this whole proceeding nothing but 
what foretold that O'Connell was to be their king ; 
that the Saxons, or Protestants, were to be extir- 
pated, and that the Pope was to rule them. Be not 
at all surprised, American citizens, if some O'Connell 
should rise in this country, bedeck himself in some 
such insignia of buffoonery, and proclaim himself, in 
his vicegerent capacity of pope, as your future king. 
Has not this been intimated clearly, by a concurrence 
of circumstances, within the knowledge and recollec- 
tion almost of every one who will do me the honor 
of reading these lines ? Has not the archbishop 
of Baltimore, and all the other bishops in the United 
States, convened in provincial council, prohibited, by 
order of the Pope, his subjects from going to Protest- 
ant schools, or receiving education, in any shape or 
form, from American Protestants, whom they de- 
nounced as infidels, and destitute of every moral 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH* 73 

principle ? " O, let the poor Catholics alone," says 
the American politician : ay, American Protestants, 
do let them alone ; let them diffuse their infamous 
principles of education among your children ; let 
them build among you mass houses, &c. &c. To 
you, abolitionists, who are such sticklers for the en- 
couragement of popery, I would particularly address 
myself in sober earnest. Can you encourage popery 
or popish education among you? Do you know that 
every popish college, seminary, school, or mass house, 
as M. Desgarets, a modern French writer, observes, 
" is a house for carrying on a slave trade ; not of 
negroes, but of whites : not of bodies, but of con- 
sciences ; not of intellects, but of souls : it is sla- 
very in filth and dregs ; it is the death of the people 
in a common sewer ; it is brutality and degradation, 
even to the nature of beasts. Never, says Desga- 
rets, since the origin of the world, was there so exe- 
crable a despotism as the education given by the 
Romish church.' 5 Another elegant French writer, 
M. Vedrine, speaking of the education given in Ro- 
man Catholic schools, seminaries, and colleges, calls 
these schools and colleges " press-gangs of excom- 
municated Carbonarismu" " Education in Roman 
Catholic schools," as another writer expresses it, " is 
the art of teaching people not to think." Will the 
reader bear in mind the fact that these writers were 
themselves Roman Catholics, and of course credible 
witnesses? Say, abolitionists, and all others who 
are the advocates of popery, whether you can any 
longer send your children to popish schools, semi- 
naries, or colleges. ; < 
7 



74 



HIGH AND LOW TfrASS 



It seems as if I had lost sight altogether of the 
Mass — -I will again return to it, The priest next 
recites the Nicene creed ; it is as follows : — 

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, 
factorem coeli et terra, visibilium omnium et invisi- 
bilium. Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, 
Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex patre natum ante om- 
nia ssecula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum 
verum de Deo vero ; genitum non factum ; consub- 
stantialem Patri ; per quern omnia facta sunt. Qui 
propter nos homines, et propter nostram salutem, de- 
scendit de coelis, (hie genuflectitur) et incarnatus est 
de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus 
est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, 
passus et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die, secun- 
dum scripturas ; et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dex- 
tram Patris ; et iterum venturus est cum gloria, judi- 
care vivos et mortuos : cujus regni non erit finis. 

Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum et vivificantem, 
qui ex Patre Filioque procedit ; qui cum Patre et 
Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur, qui locutus 
est per prophetas. Et unam catholicam et apostoli- 
cam ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remis- 
sionem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem 
mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen. 

Trans. — I believe in one God, the Father Al- 
mighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things, 
visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, 
the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Fa- 
thor before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, 
very (or true) God, from very (or true) God; begot- 
ten, not made j being of one substance with the Fa- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 76 

ther, by whom (the Son) all things were made. 
Who for us men, and our salvation, came down from 
heaven, (here the priest bows or kneels,) and was 
incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and 
was made man, and was crucified also for us, under 
Pontius Pilate : he suffered, and was buried, and the 
third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, 
and ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right 
hand of God, the Father Almighty ; from whence 
he shall come to judge the quick and dead, 

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver 
of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son ; 
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and 
glorified, who spake by the prophets. And I believe 
in one catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge 
one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for 
the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting. 
Amen. 

This creed was compiled in the year 325. It con- 
tains the essential elements of apostolic faith, as it 
*was understood at that early period by the fathers 
of the primitive church. But I wish Roman Catho- 
lics would bear in mind the fact, that not a single 
mention is made of the term 'Roman from beginning 
to end of the Nicene creed. It is no where said by ( 
the priest who repeats this creed, or his deluded fol- 
lowers, that they believe the Roman Catholic church. 
The words Roman Catholic church were not dreamt 
of in the year 325. It was one of those additions 
introduced by the ingenuity of the Romish priests 3 
'with a palpable design of imposing upon the credu- 
lity of mankind. It is strange that the blind fol- 



76 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



lowers of popish priests do not notice the fact, that 
there is not a solitary mention made of the word 
Roman in the Nicene creed ; and yet the whole stress 
of the pretensions of their church is laid upon that 
single term. If you tell a papist that he has no faith 
in the Roman Catholic church, you accuse him of 
heresy; he will consider himself grossly insulted by 
you ; yet he adopts the Nicene creed 3 in which the 
term Roman is omitted. Where in the above creed 
do we find any evidence that the Romish was the 
mother church ; or why do Catholics make any pro- 
fession of belief in the Roman Catholic church, ra- 
ther than the Jerusalem Catholic church, or Antioch 
Catholic church ? It would be more rational to pro- 
fess a belief in the Jerusalem Catholic church, than 
a Roman Catholic church ; assuredly Jerusalem is 
the mother church ; the gospel was first preached 
there, and St. James presided there as the first bishop. 
If the Roman Catholic church did not exist at Jeru- 
salem, at the time the Nicene creed was formed, it 
may be asked, — and I demand a categorical answer 
from Roman priests, — where was the church located 
over which St. Peter presided as head of the church ? 
If this question is not answered satisfactorily, the 
doctrine of the supremacy of Peter, together with 
the whole fabric of papal power, tumbles to the 
ground. 

Did St. Peter, when he saw the hour of dissolu- 
tion approach, ever speak of his successor ? He did 
not. He tells us that he was assured of the approach 
of death, and of laying away this my tabernacle, as 
he expresses it. This the Lord Jesus Christ signi- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. ?7 

fied to me, said Peter. Did he upon this occasion 
appoint any one to succeed him ? Not one. He refers 
his hearers to the holy Scriptures, whereunto they 
would do well to attend. The whole doctrine of Pe- 
ter's supremacy is an inconsistent farrago of popish 
twaddle. St. John, you know, survived St. Peter. 
Was he Peter's successor ? Some say, Linus was first 
bishop of Rome, after the death of St. Peter; others 
say Cletus was. Romish theologians do not agree 
upon this question ; but it is immaterial whether it 
was Linus or Cletus that succeeded Peter ; the ques- 
tion is, or should be, was either superior in authority 
to the apostle John ? and if not, as all Christians ad- 
mit, why should either claim precedency over him ? 

There is one argument in the support of the su- 
premacy of Peter over the church, upon which Ro- 
man Catholics lay peculiar stress. It is found in 
Luke xxii. 31, 32. "And the Lord said, Simon, 
Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that 
he may sift you as wheat ; but I have prayed for 
thee that thy faith fail not : and when thou art con- 
verted, strengthen thy brethren. 5 ' This, surely, is 
not proof of the superiority of Peter over the other 
apostles : far from it* It is found in the Acts of the 
Apostles, xiv. 22, that similar powers of confirming 
the souls of the disciples were conferred on Paul and 
Barnabas. But, says the papist, St. Peter himself 
speaks of the Prince of pastors — 1 Peter v. 4. "And 
when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall re* 
ceive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.' ? This 
may be admitted ; but the inference which papists 

deduce from it, must be denied. Peter does not pre- 

7# ' 



78 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

fied to me, said Peter. Did he upon this occasion 
appoint any one to succeed him? Not one. He 
refers his hearers to the holy Scriptures, whereunto 
they would do well to attend. The whole doctrine of 
Peter's supremacy is an inconsistent farrago of popish 
twaddle. St. John, you know, survived St. Peter. 
Was he Peter's successor ? Some say, Linus was first 
bishop of Rome, after the death of St. Peter ; others 
say Olitus was. Romish theologians do not agree 
upon this question ; but it is immaterial whether it 
was Linus or Olitus that succeeded Peter ; the ques- 
tion is, or should be, was either superior in authority 
to the apostle John ? and if not, as all Christians ad- 
mit, why should either claim precedency over him ? 

There is one argument in the support of the su- 
premacy of Peter over the church, upon which Ro- 
man Catholics lay peculiar stress. It is found in 
Luke xxii. 31, 32. "And the Lord said, Simon, 
Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that 
he may sift you as wheat ; but I have prayed for 
thee that thy faith fail not ; and when thou art con- 
verted, strengthen thy brethren." This, surely, is 
not proof of the superiority of Peter over the other 
apostles : far from .it. It is found in the Acts of the 
Apostles, xiv. 22, that similar powers of confirming 
the souls of the disciples were conferred on Paul and 
Barnabas. But, says the papist, St. Peter himself 
speaks of the Prince of pastors — 1 Peter v. 4. " And 
when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall re- 
ceive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." This 
may be admitted ; but the inference which papists 
deduce from it, must be denied. Peter does not pre- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 79 

me, I intend devoting a separate volume to this ques- 
tion. The delusion of Roman Catholics upon the 
doctrine of the infallibility of their church, is per- 
fectly unaccountable. It is said, and truly said, by 
an ancient philosopher, that humanum est errare ; 
but of all errors into which humanity is liable to fall, 
I must confess that this, of the infallibility of the 
popish church, or any other visible church composed 
of sinful and erring individuals, is the greatest and 
most unaccountable ; but de hoc postea, of this here- 
after. I shall at present continue the Mass and ru- 
bric by which the priest is directed how to proceed. 

RUBRIC AFTER THE NICENE CREED. 

Deinde osculatur altare, et versus ad populum di- 
cit. & — Dominus vobiscum. Res.- — Et cum spiritu 
tuo. Postea dicit " Oremus," et offertorium. duo 
dicto, si est Missa solemnis, diaconus porrigit cele- 
branti patenam cum hostia. Si privata, sacerdos ipse 
accipit patenam cum hostia, quam offerens, dicit. 

Trans. — Then he (the priest) kisses the altar, and 
turning to the people says, " The Lord be with you." 
Response. — " And with thy spirit." After this, he 
says, " Let us pray," and the offertory, (which is a 
verse or verses of Scripture, different upon different 
days;) which being repeated, if it be a solemn Mass, 
the deacon gives the paten with the host to the offi- 
ciating priest. If it be a private Mass, the priest 
himself takes the*paten with the host, which, offer- 
ing up, he says — 

S. — Suscipe, Pater omnipotens, seterne Deus, hanc 
immaculatam hostiam quam ego indignus famulus 



80 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



tuus offero tibi, Deo meo vero, pro innumerabilibus 
peccatis et offensionibus, et negligentiis meis et pro 
omnibus circumstantibusj sed et pro omnibus fideli- 
bus Christianis, vivis atque defunctis, ut mihi et illis 
proficiat ad salutem in vitam aeternam. Amen. 

Trans. — Receive, O holy Father almighty, ever- 
lasting God, this unspotted host, which I, thine un- 
worthy servant, offer unto thee, my living and true 
God, for my innumerable faults, and offences, and 
negligences, and for all here present, and also for all 
faithful Christians, both living and dead, that it may 
profit me and them for our salvation to eternal life. 
Amen. 

This part of the Mass needs no comment. The 
idea of having an infallible church offer a host, which 
means sacrifice or victim, consisting of bread manu- 
factured into the shape of a cracker, to appease the 
wrath of God for the sins of man, is so eminently 
ridiculous, that it would be a loss of time to offer any 
comments upon it ; indeed it would be an outrage 
upon common sense to give it a moment's reflection. 
There is not the slightest intimation given by any 
of the apostles, that bread was ever considered a 
suitable offering to God for sins. It may be proper 
to observe, for the information of American Protest- 
ants, who may not understand these solemn buffoon- 
eries of consecrating hosts, and offering them as 
sacrifices to appease the vengeance of God for sin 
committed against him — it may, I Say, be proper to 
observe that the priest himself, who offers this sacri- 
fice, eats it, but gives not a particle of it to his hear- 
ers, or those who believe as he does. 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 81 

The Mass continues. 

R, — Deinde faciens crucem cum eadem patena, 
deponit hostiam super corporale. Diaconus minis- 
trat vinum, subdiaconus aquam in calice ; vel si pri- 
vata est Missa, utrumque infundit sacerdos, et aquam 
miscendam in calice, benedicit, dicens, 

Trans. — Then making the sign of the cross with 
the same paten, he places the host upon the corpo- 
ral ; the deacon pours the wine, the subdeacon the 
water into the chalice. But if it be a private Mass, 
the priest pours in both, and blesses the water to 
be mixed in the chalice with the sign of the cross, 
saying — 

Deus qui humanas substantias dignitatem mirabili- 
ter condidisti, et mirabilius reformasti ; da nobis per 
hujus aquas et vini mysterium, ejus divinitatis esse 
consortes, qui humanitatis nostrae fieri dignatus est 
particeps, Jesus Christus, Filius tuus, Dominus nos- 
ter. Glui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus 
Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen. 

Trans — O God, who hast wonderfully constituted 
the dignity of human nature, and more wonderfully 
reformed it, grant to us, through the mystery of this 
water and wine, to be partakers of his divinity, who 
condescended to be partaker of our humanity, even 
Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and 
reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world 
without end. Amen. 

This all seems Arabic, I have no doubt, to most 
of my readers. It is as perfectly unintelligible to, 
American Protestants as the rites of the Colchi or 
Troglodytes, and it is difficult for us to say whether 



82 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



we ought to frown or smile at the whole of the sol- 
emn jugglery. I must, however, explain some of 
the terms used in the above lines. Patena, or paten, 
is something in the shape and of the size of a desert 
plate, and composed of silver. Corporal is a sort of 
linen towel or napkin, which the priest uses to wipe 
the plate after the sacrifice is offered on it. How 
astonished St. Paul would be, should he rise from 
the dead, and see his successors making crosses, bow- 
ing, scraping, using plates, corporals, mixing wine 
and water for their own particular use, but giving 
none of it to their followers ! he would feel truly- 
mortified, were he now amongst us, to see a body 
of men, calling themselves the ministers of Christ, 
practising these heathenish and idolatrous tricks — for 
I can give them no other appellation — and all in the 
name of his blessed Master who is in heaven. 

Will the reader accompany me across the Atlan- 
tic, and I will show him some scenes which take 
place at the celebration of Mass in that unfortunate 
country, Ireland. A great majority of the people 
who attend Masses in this country, is composed of 
Irish. There are thousands of them in the city of 
Boston, where these pages are intended to be pub- 
lished, who have witnessed the degrading scenes 
which I am about to relate. If I state what is false, 
or even exaggerate things in the least degree, they 
will have ample opportunity to contradict me, and I 
beseech and pray them to do so. It is their duty as 
Irishmen for the honor of their country, and the love 
of truth demands it at their hands. While I am 
making the proposed digression from the subject of 



IN THE ROMAN CATHUL.1C CHURCH. 83 

the Mass, I take leave to ask the reader's indulgence, 
and assure him that I shall return again, either in the 
following pages or in a second volume, to the subject. 

It may not be known to the reader that I have 
officiated as a Catholic priest in Ireland, and conse- 
quently that I had full and ample opportunity of 
learning the truth of my statements. 

SCENES AT ST. CRONIN'S WELL,. 

St. Cronin's Well is situated in the province of 
Minister, Ireland. I have witnessed at this well a 
succession of scenes and irreligious traffic, at the bare 
mention of which human nature must shudder, and 
over which Christianity must weep. Before I enter 
upon any detail of the pagan rites which are prac-r 
tised by priests in their celebration of Masses, and 
other popish services, I must inform my American 
readers that there are two holidays in the Romish 
church, one called the Assumption, which means the 
taking up of the blessed Yirgin Mary into heaven, 
and the other called the Nativity of the blessed Vir- 
gin Mary. These holidays are familiarly known to 
the Irish under the titles of Big Lady Day and Little 
Lady Day. I have seen myself thousands congre- 
gate on those days to perform what is termed by the 
Irish, stations, at St. Cronin's well. I have visited 
and acted my part as a Romish priest, at this place 
of wickedness, crime, debauchery, profanity, and 
worse than pagan idolatry. By stations are meant 
places where Masses are said, confessions are made,' 
penances are imposed, and the sins of the people are 
forgiven by the priests. I would not if I could — ' 



84 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



nor could I if I would,— follow the gyrations, or 
attempt to depict in true colors the priestly rapacity 
and plunder which I have seen at St. Cronin's well. 
This much, however, I must say, in the language 
of an Irish Roman Catholic priest, who, like myself, 
has witnessed such scenes, and from whom I have 
borrowed largely — not facts, but his mode of express- 
ing them — that heathenism, in all its extravagances, 
could not exceed the evolutions of the pilgrims, nor 
could Satan exceed the sordid covetousness and cupid- 
ity of the reverend impostors of the Romish church. 

The first station — there are several of them — com- 
mences by performing seven circuits round the well, 
repeating at each circuit twenty Paters and twenty 
Aves, with heads and feet uncovered. This part of 
the station was gone through in an erect position. 
The next station was performed on the bare knees, 
and over a pathway covered with small stones select- 
ed for the purpose of inflicting punishment upon 
them : at the end of this station each devotee was 
obliged to pay between two and six pence for permis- 
sion from the presiding priest to dip his or her beads 
in the waters of the well consecrated to St. Cronin. 
It is probable, many American Protestants do not 
understand what is meant by beads. Beads resemble 
a string of a glass or stone necklace, such as we see 
worn around the necks of many females in this coun- 
try. They consist of about thirty separate stones, 
or pieces of hard wood, in imitation of diamonds, 
about the size of those used for necklaces, and like 
them can be removed backward and forward by the 
hand. These are blessed by a priest ; and the poor 



IN THE ROMA-PI- CATHOLIC CHURCH, 85 

Irish who can neither read nor write, who know nei- 
ther the rule of addition or multiplication, are obliged 
to count thei? prayers upon them in this manner : — 
when they hare completed one prayer, they pull 
down one bead, and when they have repeated the 
second prayer, they pull down another bead, and sa 
on, till the prescribed number of prayers is finished. 
There is a cross affixed to each string of beads,, which 
the devotee kisses when he finishes his prayers, and 
for which he is bound to pay the priest one or two 
pence, according to the enormity of his sins. 

St. Cronin's well (indeed almost all wells in Ire- 
land are dedicated to saints) is of a circular form, from 
about three to five feet diameter. No one is allowed, 
either on Big or Little Lady Day, to partake of the 
waters of this welt without paying a stipulated sum, 
which the priest never fails to demand. In the use, 
or rather abuse of this water, all decency is laid aside. 
The priest persuades the people that it possesses 
sanatary or healing properties ; that it can cure all 
diseases, if the saint is only propitiated, which can 
be done by offering in his honor, and for his glory, 
a certain number of Masses. The people are told 
by their priests, that if both sexes will mingle toge- 
ther, and immerge themselves in the well, their sins 
will be forgiven, and their bodily diseases entirely 
cured. The poor deluded followers of the priests 
are often promiscuously immerged in this and other 
wells, to the utter disgrace and scandal of all Christ- 
ians of fine feelings and sensibilities. 

An Irish Roman Catholic priest, speaking of a simi- 
lar holy well, situated in the province of Connaught* 
8 



86 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



tells us that on the last day of a festival, or station^ 
held at a place called Baal, it is customary for Roman 
Catholic married women, who prove childless, to go 
and immerge themselves in a holy well situated there, 
turn themselves round in it three times, in the name 
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and after some 
other magic evolutions, such as collecting seven 
stones out of the church yard, as an antidote against 
barrenness, or a restorative of lost generation, return 
home to their husbands, having left behind them 
their sins as well as barrenness ; they call on their 
priest on their way home, and pay him for a certain 
number of Masses. Risum teneatis, Americani— 
don't laugh, Americans. 

The feast of St. Cronin, in the province of Mini- 
ster, as well as the festival of Baal, in the province 
of Connaught, terminates with what is called & pat- 
tern. At these patterns — by which word is meant 
the patron day of the parish, a motley crew invaria- 
bly assembles. Impostors (as an Irish Roman Cath- 
olic priest expresses it) are to be found from all the 
neighboring counties ; I know myself, of my own 
knowledge, that mendicants, whose deformity of body 
and disfiguration of countenance are most calculated 
to attract attention, are regular attendants at those 
places. 

Whisky-tents are located in all quarters of the 
pattwn field ; bag-pipers and fiddlers are to be seen 
every where. " The sorrow of the pilgrim dies 
amidst the jocularity of the scene, and the thoughts 
of past penance are drowned in the effusions of the 
bottle, Excess of crime supersedes the place of hy- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 87 

pocritical virtue, and the morning acts of the devotee's 
piety are generally succeeded by deeds of evening 
criminality. Here the ungodly sensualist finds a new 
market for profligacy ; whilst the incautious female, 
who, beguiled by the supposed traditionary sanctity 
of the place, resorts to the unhallowed spot, returns 
to her paternal home with no other reward than a 
broken-hearted consciousness of her having fallen a 
victim to seduction." 

I know of my own knowledge, that crimes increase 
in proportion to the number of these festivals and 
mass-saying meetings. The priests impress upon 
their poor Irish followers the belief, that as their past 
sins have been forgiven them, they may the more 
easily commence sinning again, as they can at any 
time procure forgiveness, either in this world or in the 
next if they prefer it, by having Masses said for their 
souls. 

We have another instance of the frightful deprav- 
ity and wickedness of Romish priests under the 
mask of religion, in Ireland. There are thousands 
now in New England, who have witnessed what I 
am about stating. There is in the county of Mona- 
ghan, Ireland, a well which is said to have been con- 
secrated by St. Patrick. There is near this well a 
small heap of stones, surmounted by a large one, 
having upon it the print of St. Patrick's knee ; and 
on the top of this is a stone cross, which, the Irish 
Catholics say, was placed there by the saint himself 
in person. At a distance of forty-nine paces, mea- 
sured by St. Patrick, — and no mistake, say the Irish 
priests, — there is an alder-tree which, the Irish assure 



88 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



us, spontaneously sprung up on the spot where it 
grows, the moment that St. Patrick's blessed foot trod 
upon it ; which occurred just as he had been landed 
from the millstone, on which he had sailed over to 
Ireland. This is no laughing affair. Americans- 
keep serious ; there are hundreds from the county 
of Monaghan, who can attest the truth of the fact 
which I state ; thousands annually, weekly, and 
daily visit this blessed well. The pilgrims who visit 
this place, first kneel at the north side of this well, 
take off their hats, make the sign of the cross on 
themselves, salute St. Patrick, repeat fifteen Paters 
and one creed on their bare knees. They then rise 
up, bow to the stone image of the saint, walk three 
times around the well, and drink of the water each 
time at the place where they began ; from thence they 
go to the heap of stones aforesaid, bow to the cross, 
kiss the print of St. Patrick's knee, and put one of 
their knees into it ; then they go three times around 
the heap on their knees, always kissing this stone. 
They next go to the alder-tree, bow to it, facing it 
from the west ; they go three times round it, repeat- 
ing fifteen Paters and one creed. 

The most remarkable superstition which is prac- 
tised in this place is that of the immense pilgrimages 
to a place called St. Patrick's Purgatory. This is 
the most diabolical piece of popish depravity and 
swindling that ever has been practised or tolerated 
in any civilized country. I know it will be said 
that I am dealing in fables ; there are even Romish 
priests who will deny the truth of what I state, 
though they have witnessed them with their own 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. &9 

senses. Will they come forward and do so publicly ? 
If they have not taught their subjects to believe that 
perjury is no crime when committed for the good 
of the church, which they usually do when there is 
a fair chance of escaping the legal consequences, — I 
will prove them guilty of deliberate falsehood. 

St. Patrick's Purgatory, as it is called, is situated 
in the midst of a lake in the county of Donnegal, in 
Ireland. The crowds of poor Irish Roman Catho- 
lics who visit this place, are immense. The mode 
of paying a visit to this Purgatory, as prescribed by 
their priests, is this : — As soon as the poor people 
come in sight of the lake in which it is situated, 
they bless themselves by making the sign of the 
cross, uncover their heads, take off their shoes and 
stockings, take a cross in one hand, with their beads 
in the other, and proceed in that condition to the side 
of the lake. There is always a priest, or some one 
who acts for him, stationed there ready to ferry them 
over in a consecrated boat, (to which of course no 
accident can happen,) and charge a sixpence. They 
then go to the prior of this purgatory, and ask his 
blessing and permission to enter; from him they 
proceed to the altar of St. Patrick, where on their 
knees, bareheaded and barefooted, they say one Pa- 
ter, one Ave, and one creed. After this ceremony, 
the prior permits them to enter the chapel of St. Pa- 
trick, and walk round the altar seven times, saying 
ten Ave Marias and ten Paters each time they go 
round : the first and last time they kiss the cross ; 
but the last, they touch it with their shoulders. I 
am thus particular for two reasons ; first, for the 
8* 



90 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



edification of my readers ; and secondly, the cere- 
monies being in a prescribed form, I cannot deviate 
from that. 

After the ceremonials in the chapel are over, the 
pilgrims are permitted by the holy prior to visit what 
are called the penitential beds, on which seven saints 
have slept, and each of which is made of stones. 
They go round each of these three times, reciting 
three Paters and Aves each time ; the pilgrims now 
enter separately each of those beds, and lie down 
upon them, counting their beads the whole time. 
Leaving the beds, they return to the holy well, go 
into the water, and round some stones which are 
placed there ; they next go a little further into the 
water, and round another stone, with their hands 
lifted up, repeating five Aves and five Paters. They 
then return to the chapel, and are obliged to repeat 
one hundred and fifty Aves and fifteen Paters. 

They are considered now, as a Yankee would term 
it, pretty considerably purified, and are permitted by 
the above-mentioned prior to enter the holy cave of 
St. Patrick, where they are shut up for twenty-four 
hours, without any refreshments whatever. They 
are finally released, and allowed to go into the water 
again, and wash themselves all over. After this pu- 
rification, the most holy Mass is said, and a sermon 
is preached in the Irish language. Confession of 
sins to some of the priests attached to this purgato- 
rial establishment is deemed essential ; there are 
several priests whose exclusive business it is to hear 
the confessions of the pilgrims. Upon those occa- 
sions, in consequence of the great numbers who are 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 9i 

obliged to confess, the price is considerably reduced ; 
but it is never lower than six pence. There is not 
a single movement made by the unfortunate pilgrims, 
from the time they embark in the blessed ferry boat 
which conveys them across to the island in which 
this purgatory is placed, for which they do not have 
to pay more or less. It may be supposed that there 
are many wealthy people among the Catholics in Ire- 
land, who, from sickness or other causes, are not able 
or willing to make pilgrimages to this holy place ; 
provision is made for such contingencies. A license 
can be obtained by all such people to procure others 
to perform the duty for them. A proxy can be ob- 
tained, and is considered as available as the original 
party. Such is the veneration which the poor Catho- 
lics of Ireland have for the pilgrims who visit this 
place, that they go in crowds to meet them on their 
return home, and go on their knees to ask their bless- 
ing. This I have witnessed myself, over and over 
again. 

O Romanism ! Romanism ! as my reverend coun- 
tryman and brother exclaims, when will your delu- 
sions on the poor Roman Catholics of Ireland cease ? 
When shall the lucrative machinations of a wily 
priesthood yield before the benign influence of the 
gospel ? Will the reader allow me to give another 
instance of popish heathenism and idolatry ? The 
scene of this, too, is laid in Ireland ; and the truth 
of what I am about to state can be vouched for by 
hundreds of Irish Roman Catholics, who are now 
living in the cities of New York and Boston. 

There is a place in Ireland, called Clonmacnoise^ 



92 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



situated a few miles from Athlone, on the borders of 
Connaught, and on the banks of the beautiful river 
Shannon. There is a monastery in this place, which 
was founded by the petty kings of Ireland. The 
famous Roderick O'Connor, who was king of Ireland 
about the year 1100, was buried in this place. His 
name has given to it much celebrity. It* has a large 
cathedral, and is frequented by all strangers who 
visit that part of Ireland. I have not the least doubt 
but that many Americans, among others, have visited 
the tomb of king Roderick O'Connor* In the church- 
yard which is attached to the cathedral of Clonmac- 
noise, may be seen two large stone crosses : the 
largest is about fifteen feet high, and thick in pro- 
portion. The most superstitious — and I may say, 
disgusting — powers are said, by the Catholic priests 
of Ireland, to belong to this stone. Any man who 
may be found capable of spanning this large cross, 
so as to make his fingers meet on the opposite side, 
is supposed to possess the privilege of giving safe 
deliverance to women in the hour of child-birth. But 
how think you, American Protestants, does this ex- 
traordinary popish accoucheur exercise his vocation ? 
He is taught how to do so by the priest. He spans 
the woman during her pains, and gives her three 
shakes in the bed, in the name of the Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost. There are instances where these 
men are sent for, from every section of the country. 

We talk of the benighted heathen ; we pray for 
them ; we weep for them ; we contribute our money 
for the purpose of evangelizing them and their coun- 
try : but have we ever heard, or read, or witnessed 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 93 

such an instance of heathenish superstition as this, 
which we see and know is now practised in Ireland 
by Roman Catholic priests and their followers ? 

Let me give you another instance of the extraor- 
dinary power which is attributed to this large cross 
by the Irish Catholic priesthood. It is thought that 
every female who ties a black ribbon round the body 
of this cross, and afterwards wears it around her own 
body during her pregnancy, will be safely delivered, 
Crowds of women may be seen, at the present day, 
assembling from all parts of Ireland to perform those 
diabolical ceremonies. There are in the church-yard 
at Clanmacnoise two other stones, not far from this 
large cross, to which is attributed the power of cur- 
ing the lumbago, or pain in the back. The cure is 
performed by pressing the back against these stones, 
and so frequently is this remedy applied, that it is 
said the dimensions of the stone are decreasing by 
friction. The price which the priests charge for 
permission to rub the back against these stones, and 
thereby obtain a cure for the lumbago, or almost any 
other disease, varies from two pence, to half a crown. 

There is another stone in this church-yard con- 
taining two cavities, which the priests of that neigh- 
borhood — and the fact is believed by every priest in 
Ireland — say were made by a cow belonging to St. 
Kieran, one of the patron saints of the place. It 
seems that the saint had a cow, which escaped from 
her own pasture, and not having the fear of the law 
before her eyes, broke into that of a neighbor, who 
sent her to pound. The neighbor was a heretic, 
which the cow knew full well, and believing that 



94 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



all heretics were cursed, and of right ought to be 
cursed and damned, the cow fell upon her knees, and 
cursed the neighbor who sent her to pound ; and the 
cavities, heretofore alluded to, were made by falling 
upon her knees to pronounce the awful curse. 

There is in the church-yard of Clonmacnoise an- 
other stone, called the returning stone. If any indi- 
vidual will go round this stone, repeating a certain 
number of prayers which his priests may prescribe, 
and having a Mass said in honor of St. Kieran, it is 
devoutly believed by every good Roman Catholic 
that he will return safe and sound from any voyage 
which he might have undertaken. Many of these 
poor Roman Catholics from Ireland are now amongst 
us. I can scarcely reproach them. I detest popery 
from my heart, and I would caution Americans not 
against them, but against the principles of their reli- 
gion, and the diabolical machinations of their priests. 

By an official report of the Secretary of State to 
Congress, it appears that the whole number of emi- 
grants from foreign countries, who arrived in the 
United States during the year ending Sept. 30, 1845, 
was 119,854. It is to be presumed that a large por- 
tion of those foreigners are Roman Catholics, who 
bring with them very little besides their creeds, their 
systems of education, and their popish prejudices 
and idolatrous practices. They are freely received 
amongst us, and even some of our enlightened Pro- 
testants — at least some of those whom we might 
presume to be enlightened and well informed — come 
forward at public meetings and tell us, in the pleni- 
tude of self-complacency and sang froid, " that they 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 95 

had read the books of Roman Catholics, examined 
them, and found them to contain nothing but ex- 
cellent precepts" It was only the other day, that a 
meeting of the Teachers'' Social Union was held in 
Boston, where a Protestant clergyman was known to 
arise and declare that he had " examined the books 
of the Roman Catholics as taught in their schools, 
and found that they contained excellent precepts" 
It will not, I trust, be deemed impertinent in me to 
ask this Protestant clergyman and city missionary, 
what were the books that he examined ? What were 
their respective titles ? Does he recollect to find 
amongst them a book recently written by the Roman 
Catholic bishop Kenrick of Philadelphia, and entitled 
the Garden of the Soul ? Were any of those books 
written by that Roman Catholic saint Ligori ? Did 
one Escobar write any of those books ? Were any 
of them written by Dens, a distinguished Roman 
Catholic writer? Did one Le " Soulas du Pecheur" 
write any of those works, or did he find in them 
many of those excellent precepts which they con- 
tain ? Did this Rev. Protestant clergyman examine 
whether any of these works to which he alludes, 
were written by one De La Hogue ? Did he find 
amongst them any of the writings of M. Libri ? Has 
he seen the works of Le Pere Duchene among the 
Catholic books ? Probably not. These might have 
escaped his notice, or peradventure he forgot all about 
them. This surely must be the case, or the late 
Catholic bishop Fenwick, of Boston, more distin- 
guished for his craft and cunning than learning and 
piety, had ordered his priests to keep these works in 



96 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



the back ground, and place in his schools in Bos- 
ton such books as may gull Protestants into a belief 
that all works used in Catholic schools were of a 
similar character, and contained excellent precepts. 
It would be well, for the sake of consistency even, 
if this reverend Protestant divine had qualified his 
approbation of the excellency of the precepts taught 
in Catholic schools. " By their fruits ye shall know 
them," says a high authority ; and there appears to 
be no reason why this rule should not be applied to 
books. If this rule be a correct one, and I presume 
the Rev. Protestant clergyman will not deny it, we 
cannot take his word for the excellency of those pre- 
cepts which are contained in Catholic books. We 
must doubt his veracity, or question the accuracy of 
his judgment, If the precepts contained in those 
Catholic books used in those popish schools of Bos- 
ton are good and excellent, the Rev. Protestant divine 
to whom I have alluded, pays but a poor compliment 
to the teachers of their schools, and still a poorer 
one to the capacity of their pupils ; for he says, al- 
most in the same breath that preceded his unquali- 
fied approbation of their books, that he found the 
Catholic children " were on the Sabbath, as well as 
on other days, wandering neglected about the streets, 
corrupting and corrupted." 

I must confess that I, at least, am at a loss to un- 
derstand how this could be the result of inculcating 
sound morals and excellent precepts by competent 
men. There is a defect somewhere : either in the 
precepts contained in their books of instruction, or 
in the competency of the teachers : and it is the 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 97 

duty of those who met to discuss the question, " what 
is our duty in regard to the neglected children of 
foreign and vicious parents ?" to look into the affair. 

It was observed by another gentleman at the same 
meeting, " that if Catholics could be educated in our 
schools which were neither Protestant nor Catholic, 
he would risk their religion." I wish the gentleman 
had explained what he meant by a school that was 
neither Protestant nor Catholic. I do not under- 
stand it. A Roman Catholic probably could. Bishop 
Fitzpatrick, and any other Catholic bishop, would 
say that he meant a Unitarian school. The Catholic 
bishops of the United States, who recently held a 
provincial council — Rome very modestly looks upon 
this country as one of her own provinces — would 
immediately comprehend what was meant by a 
school neither Protestant nor Catholic. They would 
understand it to mean the Unitarian school, where, — 
as papists say, — nothing but immorality and unbelief 
was inculcated. It was resolved, — if the reader re- 
collects, — by the unanimous consent of the Catholic 
bishops of the United States, " that Catholic children 
should not attend American Protestant schools, which 
were only places of immorality and infidelity." If, 
said our fellow-citizen at the meeting of the Teach- 
ers' Social Union, Catholics could he educated in our 
schools, I would risk their religion. If Father Mil- 
ler's prophecies for the last five years were fulfilled, 
we should all be in heaven or elsewhere, and proba- 
bly some of us may be willing to risk the conse- 
quences ; but they have not, nor have we any certain 
evidence that they ever will, during our life time j 
9 



98 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



though I think that the accomplishment of them is 
as probable as that Bishop Fitzpatrick, or the Roman 
Catholic priests of Boston, will ever permit the chil- 
dren of Catholics to be educated in our schools. W e 
may invite Catholic children to come to Protestant or 
to American schools, or even to the Teachers' Social 
Union school ; but will they come ? We may call 
them ; so we may call the spirits from the deep ; but 
will they come ? Not one soul of them, as long as there 
is a Catholic school or Catholic teacher to be found 
in Boston. They dare not do it, on pain of excom- 
munication. Ask Bishop Fitzpatrick, or any other 
Catholic priest in the United States, and they will 
tell you that the children of Roman Catholics are 
not allowed by them to go to any school kept by 
American heretics. They will tell you that Ameri- 
can heretics teach and inculcate nothing in their 
schools but immorality and infidelity. I use here 
the language and the very words of the Roman Ca- 
tholic bishops in the United States assembled in pro- 
vincial council in the city of Baltimore, only a few 
weeks ago. Are not the children of Catholics, and 
their parents too, taught to believe that " no faith is 
to be kept with heretics ?" Does not the Catholic 
church expressly say in her own language — that very 
language in which she orders Masses to be celebra- 
ted — nulla fides cum hcereticis — " No faith is to be 
kept with heretics." I will do the bishops of the 
popish church justice in giving them credit for con- 
sistency in this respect ; and until Protestant clergy- 
men are equally consistent, and equally true to their 
religion and professions of faith, they scarcely de- 



'IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 99 

serve the name of Christians, and are no way entitled 
to respect. 

Protestants will pardon me for thus severely cen- 
suring some of their clergymen ; but the truth must 
be told, and I am not the man to suppress it, however 
harsh it may appear to those who deserve the re- 
proach. Some of these gentlemen may consider me 
their enemy ; but to this I will only answer in the 
language of inspiration: "Am I therefore become 
your enemy because I tell you the truth ?" 

Do Protestant ministers imagine that the Romish 
priesthood, after ages of war, controversy, and blood, 
could peacefully sit down and exercise a concurrent 
control with them in the education of the human 
mind ? They whose minds are perpetually haunted 
with the dark and idle dreams of the infallibility of 
their church, and their expectations of her universal 
supremacy, would they, I say, think of permitting 
the children of their followers to be educated by 
American heretics ? Never. Though popish bishops 
are sometimes willing to surrender what they con- 
sider abstract right to expediency, which we have 
seen in their whole history ; though the popish bishop 
of Boston and his priests may for a moment connive 
at the attendance of a few of their followers in the 
schools of American heretics ; still they will yield 
not an inch of their supposed privileges ; they exer- 
cise with a Spartan rigor the full control which they 
know they possess over the minds and actions of 
their people, whenever they deem it necessary The 
address and audacity of papists towards American 
heretics is unrivalled. We hear of Athenian address ; 



100 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



it is almost proverbial ; but it is time that this phrase 
should in future be omitted ; let it in future be an 
obsolete phrase — let popish address be substituted in 
its stead. Who but a papist could persuade Ameri- 
cans that he was the friend of education ? Who but 
& papist could persuade a Protestant clergyman that 
the books used in popish schools contained excellent 
precepts ? or who but a papist would have the auda- 
city to say that nothing was taught in the schools of 
American Protestants but infidelity and immorality ? 

Another gentleman who was present at this meet- ' 
ing of the Teachers' Social Unio?i, very handsomely 
and very beautifully alluded to the sweet simplicity 
of childhood. I agree with him fully in the sim- 
plicity of childhood, and I believe I may venture 
to say that no one regrets more than I do, that that 
simplicity, which exists naturally in the Catholic 
child, many of whom are Irish, should be poisoned 
in the bud by bad education, or rather want of any 
education at alL The sweet simplicity of childhood 
is destroyed by that education which is learned from 
those books that contain excellent precepts. 

61 The bud is bit with an envious worm', 
< Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air, 

Or dedicate his beauty to the sun." 

There is a weighty and serious responsibility, 
though little recognized, upon all, especially upon 
Protestant clergymen, who are permitted to speak 
at the meetings of the Teachers' Social Union, or 
other public meetings ; there is, I say, a great re- 
sponsibility resting on them: their position lends 
them a power to give currency to valuable truths 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 101 

or dangerous errors. They are listened to by many ; 
their speeches and observations are read by thou- 
sands ; and it is their duty — a primary and sacred 
duty — to avoid, giving currency to error or erroneous 
views. No man in such a position, be he layman or 
clergyman, provided he is a good citizen and good 
man, should speak upon any subject which he does 
not understand, especially if the subject be such as 
that of the education of the poor and the vicious, as 
was the case at the meeting above alluded to. It 
was improper, incorrect, and otherwise wrong, for 
any Protestant clergyman to state in a public meet- 
ing, that the books used in Roman Catholic schools 
contained good and sound precepts or christian mor- 
als ; he might have said that he saw no books in the 
schools of the papists but those containing excellent 
precepts. We might then understand him, and no 
false impression would have been left upon the minds 
of his hearers. The impression which this clergy- 
man made upon the minds of all who heard or have 
read his speech, — if it left any at all, — is, that the 
system of education adopted in Catholic schools was 
a good one, and consequently ought to be encouraged. 

Will the reader permit me to relate a circumstance 
which came within my own knowledge, during last 
week ? I happened to be travelling in a public stage 
in New England, in company with a Catholic priest 
and seven or eight others, but of what denomination 
of Christians, or whether they belonged to any, I can- 
not say, nor have I ever inquired. The priest availed 
himself of the first opportunity to inform us that he 

was an Irishman ; that he had visited Rome, and was 
9# 



102 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



authorized by his infallible Roman Catholic church 
to attend to the spiritual instruction of all the Catho- 
lics whom he might find on certain sections of the 
railroads throughout New England. He had no idea, 
in all probability, that there was any one in the stage 
who understood popery. He talked with great volu- 
bility, and, I must say, with some eloquence, on the 
beauties of his religion and the admirable system of 
education which it patronizes and encourages. To 
all this I listened with due attention and respect, 
though not without occasionally expressing some 
doubts whether he might not be mistaken. He was 
positive ; he could not be in error, for he was taught 
by the church, and the church was infallible. Upon 
my expressing some doubts as to the infallibility of 
the church, which I did, not with view of taking 
any advantage of him, but to draw him out fairly 
and honorably upon the question, I asked him for 
some proof from Scripture to satisfy me and my fel- 
low-passengers that the popish church was infallible, 
and could not err. He said he would give it, and 
poured down upon us a torrent of scriptural texts, 
which to him were perfectly satisfactory, but insuf- 
ficient altogether to convince me, at least. Just for 
the purpose of sounding him, and knowing full well 
by anticipation what answer I might expect, I asked 
him what he thought of the Scriptures, or whether 
they were of themselves of sufficient credit or weight 
to prove that his church was infallible. I asked him 
whether there was any evidence that the Scriptures 
were inspired ; for, said I, if they are not, in vain do 
you quote from them to prove the infallibility of your 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 103* 

' i 

church. What, Americans, do you suppose was his 
answer, and that in presence of seven or eight free 
subjects of a free Protestant government? It was 
this : — The Bible is no better than an old, out-of-date 
almanac; and if it were not for the authority of the 
Roman Catholic church, ivhich can never err, nobody 
could or ought to believe it. Mark this, American* 
Protestants. Here is a Catholic missionary travelling 
amongst you ; going among laborers who work upon' 
your railroads, and mingle among many of your- 
selves, telling them and you that the Bible, the char- 
ter of your moral, and the foundation of your civil 
rights, signed with the blood of our Savior, and 
handed down to you by the founders of your con-' 
stitution, is nothing better than an old, out-of-date 
almanac. See how gulled and duped you are by 
popish priests. Is not all this your own fault ? It 
was but the other day, that one of your own Protest- 
ant city missionaries in Boston told you that he had 
examined the Bibles and books used in the Catholic 
schools in Boston, and that he wanted no better.^ 
Does this missionary want nothing better than an 
old almanac ? The Roman Catholic missionary, of 
whom I have spoken, declared to me — and if neces- 
sary I will find the names of others who were pre- 
sent when he made this declaration — that the Bible 
was nothing better than an old almanac. Is this all 
you want in your schools ? Are these the excellent 
'precepts to which your missionary in Boston alludes ? 
Have we any more such missionaries as this gentle- 
man ? O, if there is another like him, 



104 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



" Take him and cut him out in little stars, 
And he will make the face of heaven so fine, 
i That all the world will be in love with night, 

And pay no worship to the gairish sun." 

This will not do, Mr. Protestant City Missionary ; 
science is on its onward march. When science is 
identified with the popish church 3 it soon dies, and 
when you receive it from the lips of popish priests, 
you .find it mutilated, paralyzed, and misapplied. 
There is nothing that is excellent, nor of an ultimate 
moral tendency, taught in popish schools. There is 
no science or no morality, according to the idea of 
papists and their teachers, unless both are founded 
on the belief that the Romish church is infallible ; 
and I repeat it, — for the hundredth time since I com- 
menced writing on the subject of popery, — that the 
infallibility of the church of Rome is one of the 
greatest delusions that ever took possession of the 
human mind. 

Persuade mankind that the Romish church is in- 
fallible, and you give the death-blow to reason. If 
a man of mind, genius, intellect and acquirements 
subscribes to this iniquitous doctrine, he forfeits all 
claim to that glorious title which distinguishes him 
from every other thing or creature which God has 
made. Homo est animal rationale. Deprive him of 
the rational, and there is nothing to distinguish him 
from the brute. He would be then a mere animal, 
without any distinguishing character or a single fea- 
ture either of mind or body, which could entitle him 
to what he now is, a little below the angels. I will 
admit that the church of Rome has many external 
attractions; her music, her altars, and her gaudy 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 105 

dresses are pleasing to the senses ; the external deco- 
ration, and even configuration, looks beautiful, and 
almost divine : but there is in the body of popery 
something that is bad, destroying, and crashing ; its 
heart is bad, corrupt, and corrupting ; it reminds me 
of that passage in Shakspeare : 

" O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face ! 5 
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave ? - ^ 

JBeautiful tyrant ! fiend angelic [ 
Dove-feathered raven ! wolfish-ravening lamb ! 
Despised substance of divinest show ! i: 
Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st ! . : . 
A damned saint ! an honorable villain ! " -• 

O Nature, what hadst thou to do in hell, 
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend 
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh ? — ;i * - 

Was ever book, containing such vile matter, 
So fairly bound ?— O, that Deceit should dwell 
In such a gorgeous palace !" 

I will also admit that some of the arguments used 
by Romish priests in defence of their church and 
doctrines are extremely plausible, and seldom fail to 
make a strong impression upon their Protestant hear- 
ers. If a popish priest is asked whether he believes 
that all Protestants are to be damned, he will answer 
in the negative, or give an evasive answer, which 
amounts to the same. Perhaps it is well here to give 
a specimen of those answers. If you ask whether 
Protestants are all to be damned, a Romish priest 
will say, no ; because, .they may belong to the body 
or soul of the infallible church ; they may belong to 
the body by an outward profession of faith, or they 
juay belong to the soul by simply wishing to do right j 
in either case they might be entitled to salvation. 



106 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

Thus they leave Protestants in doubt as to what the 
belief of the Romish church is, in relation to the 
future condition of Protestants. I understand full 
well this species of popish sophistry. When I put 
the question to my fellow-traveller, the priest, whe- 
ther Protestants were to be damned indiscriminately 
and collectively, he replied in the usual slang, they 
are, unless, perhaps, they may belong to the soul of 
the church. This answer was not sufficient for me, 
and not wishing to give this priest the advantage of 
a sophistical evasion of the point at issue, and thereby 
make a false impression upon the minds of our fel- 
low-passengers, I put the question to him precisely 
in the following words: — Suppose all who are now 
in this stage are Protestants; suppose further, that 
not one of us belongs to the body or soul of the Ro- 
man Catholic church ; and suppose we are all guilty 
of no other crime than not believing in her i7ifalli- 
bility ; I ask you, sir, in the name of my fellow- 
passengers, and as an act of courtesy to myself, 
whether we are all to be damned, according to your 
belief. His answer was, Certainly, sir ; the church, 
which cannot err, has declared it so, and not one of 
you can be saved. The church is built upon a rock, 
and the gates of hell cannot prevail against her, 
which would be the case if there was any salvation 
beyond the pale of the Catholic church. To this 
infamous doctrine I replied, You must be joking, 
sir ; for if I believed these were the doctrines of the 
Roman Catholics, although I am fond of peace, and 
respect the laws of the land, I would be the first 
to take up arms for the purpose of removing every 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 107 

Roman Catholic beyond the boundaries of the United 
States. His answer was, You cannot do it. Pro- 
testants tried that before. Did they not burn our 
churches in Philadelphia, and did not Dr. Beecher 
of Boston instigate and head a mob to burn the con- 
vent in Oharlestown ? I fear I evinced some impa- 
tience at hearing this infamous charge made by a 
foreign hireling against this zealous and eloquent 
Christian orator. I indignantly flung back the accu- 
sation in the teeth of the accuser ; assuring him 3 in 
language which I now wish had been more courte- 
ous, that the charge was false ; that I had the pleasure 
of a slight personal acquaintance with Dr. Beecher, 
and he was well known to me by fame, and that I 
would not believe him to be guilty of any act un- 
worthy of a man of honor or a sincere Christian. 

This is not one of the old lies with which, accord- 
ing to the papist, my books and statements are filled ; 
there were several witnesses, and I must say that the 
priest, with whom I was conversing, was one of* the 
best informed Irish Roman Catholic priests I ever 
met in the United States. Had I not been present, the 
impression which this gentleman would have left on 
the minds of his fellow-passengers might have been 
so deep that it would take the balance of their lives 
to remove it. But between this popish priest and 
myself, it was tuck against tuck, and I am fully 
satisfied with the consequences. 

I must return to the Mass, and will observe here/ 
that in Masses for the dead, the prayer — at the con- 1 
elusion of which, on page 80, I digressed from the 
subject — is said ; but the water is not blessed. The 



108 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



practice of offering Masses has no sanction in the 
Scriptures, This will appear plain if we turn our 
attention to Matt, xxviii. 20, " Teaching them to 
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded 
you j and lo, I am with you alway unto the end of 
the world. Amen." If Masses for the dead were 
necessary, is it not strange that the apostles should 
never have mentioned the fact I They frequently 
speak of praying for each other, but never speak of 
prayer for the dead. As to blessing the water, to 
which I have alluded, it would be a waste of time 
to make any comments upon it. Masses for the dead 
are said for the purpose of relieving souls from what 
papists call purgatory, or a place to which, they say, 1 
they are temporarily consigned for the commission 
of sins, and cannot be liberated for sometimes thou- 
sands of years, without masses being said for their 
relief. It is a satanic invention, instituted solely to 
fill the coffers of the papal treasury. 

In the notice I am about to take of the Romish 
doctrine of purgatory, I will quote an article from 
a work published recently in Ireland. It is entitled 
" The Appeal of a converted Roman Catholic Priest 
to his former Parishioners." And an admirable ap- 
peal it is ; but I am not going to criticise the work, 
though I wish sincerely that every Catholic in this 
country, especially the Irish, could read it attentively. 

" Purgatory is one of the most unscriptural dogmas 
and pick-pocket doctrines in the Romish church. It 
is a source of the most lucrative finance to the priests, 
and serves as an endless apology for ecclesiastical 
traffic. In fact ? it is a doctrine without a Savior 



IN THE ROMAN ' CATHOLIC^ <^t^CHf 109" 

for it substitutes self-satisfaction in the place of a 
Savior's atonement, and establishes the priest as the 
temporary dispenser of joy or sorrow, of relief or 
punishment, to the soul. To enforce the admission 
of such a belief is to make an indirect accusation 
against Christ ; for it represents him as instituting a 
doctrine whose rigors and relaxations are awarded in 
proportion to the riches or poverty of the individu- 
als. A rapacious priesthood, not content with flee- 
cing its poor deluded followers upon earth with this 
doctrine, pursues the devoted victims beyond the 
grave, and converts the imaginary sorrow of a delu- 
sive purgatory into the most prolific source of pecu- 
niary profit. Should such a place exist, then the 
rich man may compound with the priest for ages of 
misery, whilst the poor man must sink under the 
afflicting thought of having nothing to pay in miti- 
gation of purgatorial torments, and thus, contrary to 
the Scriptures, purgatory assumes a more favorable 
aspect for the rich than the poor, and reverses the 
ordinance of the gospel, which promises salvation 
" without money and without price." 

c The doctrine of purgatory first originated amongst 
the Egyptian idolaters, and was borrowed from them 
by the Greeks and Ramans. The pecuniary advan- 
tages of such a doctrine were easily observable, and 
priestcraft became soon convinced that its introduc- 
tion into the church would serve as a rich and inex- 
haustible source for ecclesiastical traffic. What the 
avariciousness of men could not at once accomplish, 
the ignorance and superstition of the times aided in 
its attainment. The influence of the popes was not 
10 



110 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



dormant on the occasion, for, as popedom easily per- 
ceived that purgatory would be one of the brightest 
gems in the papal crown, it formed no exception to 
such an extension of its power, and hence it is that 
the belief of purgatory was first introduced into the 
Romish church under the auspices of Pope Gregory, 
in the sixth century. An ignorance of scriptural 
knowledge, the wild ravings of a fanciful imagina- 
tion, and superstitious notions of a weak intellect, 
are the only apologies that could be offered for Pope 
Gregory's adoption of such a doctrine. The writings 
of this infatuated ecclesiastic, upon the doctrine of 
purgatory, abound with narratives of the most legen- 
dary nature. He speaks of some souls being purged 
in the air ; others in water ; more with the smoke 
of baths ; whilst others were represented by him as 
appearing from purgatory, and crying out for masses 
for their relief. 

c Purgatory rests upon the most unscrrptural grounds 
that human ingenuity could select, and chooses in 
aid of its pretensions an imaginary distinction which 
the Roman Catholic Bible by no means recognizes. 
It is established for purging away what are called 
venial sins. Here it may be necessary to apprise 
some of my readers, that the Romish church adopts 
a most accommodating distinction with regard to sins, 
some of which they call mortal, and others venial. 
A venial sin is a less offence to God, which does not 
deserve hell. It is for purging away venial sin that 
purgatory is established. Now, gentle reader, mark 
the inconsistency of the Romish doctrine in this 
respect. Roman Catholics admit that the blood of 



m THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 111 

Jesus Christ cleanseth from mortal sins, but will not 
allow it to cleanse from venial sins, as they esta- 
blish a purgatory for the cleansing of the latter — -as 
much as to say, that the blood of Jesus cleanseth 
from the grievous sin, but cannot do so with regard 
to (what Romanism calls) the venial or trifling sin. 
This reminds me of an anecdote told of Sir Isaac 
Newton. Sir Isaac had a favorite cat^ that disturbed 
him with squeaking and mewing during his hours 
of study. In order to get rid of this annoyance. 
Sir Isaac ordered his servant to cut an opening in 
his room door, to afford free ingress and egress to 
the animal, to and from his room. The servant 
obeyed the direction of the master. Sir Isaac, seeing 
the aperture, remarked to his servant, that as the cat 
had a kitten, it would be also necessary to make a 
second opening for her ; as much as to say, that the 
aperture which gave a free passage to the large &at 5 
would not admit the small one. My readers must 
naturally see the application ; as no reason can be 
given why the blood of Jesus, which cleanseth from 
mortal sin, should not also cleanse from a venial sin, 
especially as the Roman Catholic Bible says, Ci The 
blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin/' 1 John L 7, 

' The distinction of venial and mortal sins is both 
gratuitous and miscriptural on the part of the Roman 
Catholics ; for their Bible says, " All liars shall have 
their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and 
brimstone," Rev. xxi. 8; from which it appears that 
the trivial liar, as the Roman Catholic church would 
say, will have his part in the lake as well as the nota- 
ble liar. Again : " Cursed is every one that continu- 



112 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



eth not in all the things that are written in the book 
of the law to do them," Gal. iii. 10. As every one, 
then, is cursed that doeth not every thing of the law, 
consequently no sin could be counted venial in the 
sight of God. The transgression of our first parents 
was apparently trivial in its nature. Roman Catho- 
lics would call it venial ; as it neither injured a man's 
neighbor, nor was it, according to human estimation, 
a hardened transgression of God's law. But it brought 
universal death to the children of Adam, and its 
awful consequence should be to us an ever- warning 
monitor, that in the sight of a pure and holy God, 
no sin is venial. 

' Purgatory is a most prolific source of superstition ; 
so that it may be justly asserted, that where the be- 
lief of purgatory is most prevalent, there the super- 
stitious notions of the people are the most gross and 
numerous. If a parent has lost a child, and fancy 
depicts him in a dream, the immediate conclusion is, 
that the soul is in purgatory, and that a mass is re- 
quired for its relief. If the nightly thought or the 
solitary moments of a distempered imagination should 
bring before the mind the supposed apparition of a 
deceased friend or relation, fancy becomes a substi- 
tute for reality — the report is spread, the alarming 
news is communicated, the friends of the deceased 
confer together, and unite in the opinion that the 
soul is in purgatory, and that holy masses are re- 
quired for its purgation. Hence it is that Ireland 
became so infested with the superstitious notions of 
enchantments, ghosts, hobgoblins, and various other 
fictions of mid-day and nightly spirits. 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 113 

* Again, where the belief of purgatory is most pre- 
valent, the impositions upon the public are most in- 
decent and exorbitant. In Spain, the effects of this 
doctrine are carried to a great excess. There^ upon 
each evening, a church bell tolls, called " Las Ani- 
mas," or " the souls." A man having a large lan- 
tern, with a printed glass representing two naked 
persons in flames, takes his public rounds, addressing 
each person in these words, " Remember the holy 
souls! brother, remember the holy souls!" Few 
jefuse the petitioner, who acts as agent for the souls 
in purgatory, patrolling the streets every evening, 
and never failing to visit the inns where the travellers 
intrust their safety from robbers, and where they are 
ready to make some pecuniary acknowledgment for 
past favors, or to engage protection in future dangers. 

' But why need I travel into other lands for a de- 
scription of the sacrilegious imposts arising from this 
unscriptural doctrine, when our own country fur- 
nishes sufficient materials for my subject ? In New 
Orleans there are three-day masses, all-souls days, and 
various ecclesiastical societies for the souls in purga- 
tory. A three-days' mass is one that is celebrated 
upon the burial day of the deceased. If the deceased 
were poor in circumstances, a private mass, or what 
is the same, one mass, is celebrated on the occasion. 
For this the priest receives from two and $ix pence 
to ten shillings, according to the custom of the parish. 
If the poverty of the deceased were such as that the 
usual demand for the mass could not be obtained, 
then a handful of blessed clay, accompanied with a 
charge of a shilling, or one and six pence, must act 
10* 



114 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



as a substitute for the sacrifice. If the deceased 
were comfortable in circumstances, then a high or 
chanted mass is offered. In this instance, a number 
of priests congregate together, while each receives 
from seven and six pence to a pound for assistance. 
When a month elapses after the death of the indi- 
vidual, another mass, called " the month's mind," is 
gone through ; the same number of priests as offi- 
ciated upon the day of interment is collected, and 
each again receives the sum before mentioned for his 
part of the performance. The luxuries of the table 
are the finale of this heathenish ceremonial. A most 
sumptuous dinner is prepared — a profusion of meats, 
varieties of fowl, and all the delicacies of the season, 
decorate the festive board. Whisky-punch is distri- 
buted in abundance, whilst a few bottles of wine are 
now and then introduced as digestive stimulants for 
the priests. Such an unnatural display, at so unsea- 
sonable a time, would force the impartial observer to 
conclude that their reverences expected the relief of 
the departed soul rather through the interference of 
unrestrained licentiousness, than the voice of prayer. 

' For the souls of the rich there are also anniver- 
sary or annual masses offered ,* the same routine of 
expenses is incurred at this period, as at the month's 
mind, and the same number of priests is in attend- 
ance. A luxurious dinner is the finale on this, as 
well as on the preceding occasion ; and hence it is, 
that owing to the wily and systematic arrangements 
amongst the Romish clergy, there are several parishes 
where one half the priest's time is occupied in the 
offering of monthly and annual masses for the de- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



115 



ceased, and in the feasting on the monthly and annual 
breakfasts and dinners given on the occasion. 

■< This doctrine of purgatory furnishes the priests 
with another inexhaustible source of fraud upon the 
public, 1 mean, the doctrine of intention. The 
word intention, in the Romish church, means that 
the priest would oifer his mass according to the in- 
tention of the individual paying. For such intention 
the priest receives from two and six pence to five 
shillings, in proportion to the means of the friends 
of the deceased. Many priests never think of dis- 
charging these intentions, though paid for them ; # 

* The case of the Rev. Mr. Curran, lately parish priest of Kil= 
lac an, in the county of Westmeath, and with whom I was person- 
ally acquainted, bears sufficient testimony to the correctness of my 
statement. This Rev. individual, whose death was but a few 
months ago announced in the public prints, bequeathed to the Rev. 
Dr. Cantwell, of Mullingar, £300 to be expended on masses (at 
2s. 6d. each) for such intentions as he (Mr. Curran) had neglected 
to discharge. From this it appears by arithmetical computation, 
that the Rev. Mr. Curran died owing two thousand four hundred 
masses, most of which, (as must necessarily be presumed) were to 
be offered for souls in purgatory. Now, gentle reader, allow me 
to tell you, that had the Rev. Mr. Curran survived, he would 
require more than twenty years to discharge the last of his inten- 
tions ; for as priests are allowed to offer only two masses on each 
Sunday and holiday, and but one on week-days, and as the masses 
offered by the parish priests on those festival days must be offered 
for the general benefit of the congregation, and as the masses at 
stations (which engross a great portion of the priest's services 
throughout the year, must be offered foi the particular benefit of 
the family at whose house the stations are held ; it would there- 
fore follow, that the Rev. Mr. Curran would require a period of at 
least twenty years to discharge his debt of masses. O, abominable 
notion to suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ would institute a 
doctrine whose rigor or relaxation of punishment to a soul, was to 
depend upon the whim or caprice of the Rev. Pat. Curran ! ! 



116 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



whilst others of them discharge eight or ten at one 
mass, for the mere purpose of afterwards acquainting 
their customers that they discharged their duty. 

\ The custom of offering three-day, monthly, and 
annual masses for the dead, is of heathenish origin ; 
for even Flavius Blondus, a strict Roman Catholic, 
was forced to admit that the heathens had similar 
sacrifices, and hence he said, u The pagans, believing 
that the dead were relieved by the sacrifices and 
suffrages of the living, offered sacrifices for them in 
nine days after the funeral honors ; and this sacrifice 
they called the ( novendiale,' or nine days' mind. 
We do the same thing, " says he, " by celebrating 
the divine office for the souls departed, either on the 
seventh day, or at the end of the twelve months." 
Polydore Virgil, another Roman Catholic, says, "It 
is from the heathen 1 sacrum novendiale,' that we 
took the custom of performing service for the dead 
the seventh day after the funeral ceremony." Again, 
in the 9th chapter of his 6th book, he says, " They 
(meaning the heathens) performed an anniversary 
sacrifice for the dead.' 7 

\ Purgatorial societies are established in almost 
every parish in Ireland, and tend much to swell the 
revenues of the priesthood. Even the city of Dublin, 
with all its boasted intelligence, has within the pre- 
cincts of each parish a society of this superstitious 
nature. Ecclesiastical benefits, indulgences, and 
various other allurements, are held forth to induce 
individuals to swell the number of the order ; whilst 
a penny a week, and some money in advance, are 
the quested damages for being constituted one of its 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 117 

members. All this money is handed oyer to the 
priest to relieve the suffering souls in purgatory, 

i Another pecuniary advantage for the priests, con- 
nected with this doctrine of purgatory, is an annual 
offering-day, called Ail Souls' Day, and held on the 
2d of November. The Roman Catholics make their 
offerings upon this day, in the same manner as at 
Christmas and Easter, and give from a shilling to a 
pound, in proportion to their circumstances. I have 
known several parishes, in some of which I officiated 
as a Romish priest, where, in addition to the general 
offerings upon All Souls' day, persons are obliged to 
give a liberal stipend in order to have the names of 
their deceased relations enrolled in the parish book, 
and their souls recommended to the prayers of the 
congregation. The festival of All Souls is of hea- 
thenish origin, and was formerly celebrated by the 
heathens in the month of February. It is called by 
Plutarch the feast of purification, because upon this 
festival all the dead are supposed to be purified from 
their sins with sacrifices. It was translated by the 
Romish church from the month of February to the 
2d of November, through the hope (I presume) that 
a change of time might create a change of opinion 
as to its not having been of heathenish origin. 

c Though many conjectures have been formed in 
the Romish church as to the localities of purgatory, 
still nothing definite has been decided on this sub- 
ject. Some say its situation is in this world, and as- 
sign mount Vesuvius and Etna as its entrance ; others 
assert that it is in the other world, whilst many agree 
in placing the imaginative abode under our terrestrial 



118 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



globe, between earth and hell. The Romish divines^ 
however, who had such differences of opinion as to 
the site of purgatory, are less varied in their notions 
with regard to the matter and nature of the torments ; 
for St. Thomas Aquinas gratuitously tells us, "not 
only that it is a fire in which the souls are torment- 
ed, but that the fire which torments the souls in pur- 
gatory, and the damned in hell, is the same;" and 
Bellarmine, another Catholic divine, says, that u Al- 
most all the holy fathers have agreed that the fire for 
the souls in purgatory and the damned, is the same J J 

c I shall now show this doctrine to be of heathen- 
ish extraction, and will fearlessly assert that there is 
no one who has received the blessing of a classical 
education, but must acknowledge not only the con- 
formity, but even a perfect parity, between the sup- 
posed heathenish purgatory of former times, and the 
Romish purgatory of the present days. 

i Homer, the Greek poet, who lived nine hundred 
years before Christ, evidently refers to a purgatory, 
where he describes Achilles as telling Ulysses that 
he would prefer being a rustic on earth working for 
hire, rather than have a large empire over all the dead. 
Socrates, a Grecian philosopher, who lived about four 
hundred years before Christ, is recorded in Plato's 
Pheedo as having said, that " Some souls, after their 
departure from the body, hover .about sepulchres, 
there to be punished ; and that some, after having 
gone through various punishments, shall be purged 
and absolved, and after certain periods shall be freed 
from their punishments." Plato, who was a disciple 
of Socrates, and also a Grecian philosopher, is men- 



2N THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 119 

tioned by Eusebius as believing in a middle state ; 
where some souls suffered for a time, before they 
were translated into Elysium, o? the abode of joy 
and repose. Virgil, the Roman epic poet, who lived 
about twenty years before Christ, refers to a purga- 
tory,* when he describes the ghost of Fatinurus as 
appearing to JEneas, and begging of him to alleviate 
his sorrows ; whereupon he is acquainted by the sybil 
that sacrifices would be made to appease his manes. 
The same poet describes! the different punishments 
that souls endure in the middle region before they 
could enter the habitation of joy, Ovid, the Roman 
elegiac poet, who flourished a few years after Christ, 
refers to purgatory, as may be easily observed from 
his description^ of the ghost of Remus appearing to 
Romulus, and begging of him to get an anniversary 
offered for his repose. Such was the belief of those* 
heathenish philosophers and poets with regard to a 
middle state, and such were the notions from which 
the Romish doctrine of purgatory originated, I shall 
conclude this part of my subject with an extract from 
the works of Polydore Virgil, a bigoted Italian and 
Jesuit of the sixteenth century, and whose authority 
must naturally be doubly appreciated on the present 
occasion. u The custom of praying for the dead is of 
ancient date. They (meaning the heathen) performed 
an anniversary service, that is, they offered sacrifices 
every year in honor of the dead ; and thus it is that 
we observe the same ceremony for the salvation of 
the dead."<§r 

* Mneid. lib. vi. ver. 379. t iEneid. lib. vi. ver. 740. 

| Past, lib, v § Lib. vi. cap. 9. De inventoribus reruns 



120 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



i I know there are many Catholics, who, from the 
observations I have just made, would argue that as 
the heathens believed in the doctrine of a purgatory, 
therefore it must be a natural doctrine ; and being a 
natural doctrine, therefore it must be right and true. 
If this mode of arguing were correct, then mankind 
would be perfectly justified in imitating all the abom- 
inations of heathenism ; then ought we to imitate 
the example of the goddess Bellona's followers, who 
drew their blood by cutting and flagellating them- 
selves, and afterwards carried it in their hands to 
sprinkle their idol with it, and all this because they 
imagined it natural and right to do so. Then ought 
we, in imitation of the heathens, to offer human sacri- 
fices to the gods, because they believed it natural 
and right to do so. If the above mode of argument 
were true, then ought we to burn children alive in 
our valleys, as the heathens did in the valley of Ge- 
henna, near Jerusalem, because they thought it natu- 
ral and right to do so in order to appease their god 
Moloch. But, my friends, such a mode of argument 
is absurd ; for though the heathens followed their 
abominations, still we should not conclude that it 
was natural and right that they did so, and that we 
ought to imitate their example ; and for the same 
reason, though the heathens believed in a purgatory, 
we should not consider it natural and right that they 
did so, nor should we follow their example. When 
I was at Maynooth, I heard my professor say that 
the heathens' belief in purgatory was the strongest 
argument of the existence of such a place ! ! 

£ I shall now advert to the texts of Scripture brought 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 121 

forward in support of the doctrine of purgatory, and 
shall clearly prove that these texts have been strain- 
ed, perverted, and completely misapplied. The first 
is the 32d verse of the twelfth chapter of Matthew. 
In this text our Savior says, " And whosoever shall 
speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be 
forgiven him ; but he that shall speak against the 
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in 
this world, nor the world to come." Now it is quite 
absurd to suppose that our Savior referred in this 
passage to such an imaginative place as purgatory : 
for all must admit (according to the distinction of 
mortal and venial sins) that a sin against the Son of 
man (who is Jesus Christ) must be a mortal sin, and 
that a sin against the Holy Ghost is considered a 
greater mortal sin. But according to the popish doc- 
trine, purgatory is established for purging away venial 
sins and not mortal sins, and therefore it cannot be a 
purgatory our Savior alludes to, in the text quoted. 

1 Again, to simplify this subject, let me suppose a 
person has committed a most enormous offence against 
the laws of England, and that the lord lieutenant 
said, It shall not be forgiven, neither in Ireland nor 
England, would any one be so irrational as to argue 
that the lord lieutenant meant to insinuate from this 
mode of expression that there was a middle place 
where the crime might be forgiven ? and who for the 
same reason could presume to assert that because our 
Savior said a sin against the Holy Ghost shall not 
be forgiven, neither in this world nor the world to 
come, that therefore he alluded to a middle place of 
forgiveness ? 

11 



122 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



1 The meaning of the text is this : Our Savior re* 
fers to the impossibility of a sin against the Holy 
Ghost being forgiven either in this world or the next. 
As much as to say, it will never be forgiven. This 
meaning of the passage perfectly coincides with the 
parallel text, Luke xii. 10, where it is said, " And 
whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of 
man, it shall be forgiven him | but unto him that 
blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be 
forgiven." And again, this meaning is in perfect 
accordance with another parallel text, Matt. xii. 31, 
" But blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be for- 
given." Bellarmine, a Roman Catholic ecclesiastic 
and historian of the sixteenth century, admits that 
purgatory cannot be proved from this passage of Mat- 
thew xii. 31. 

1 The next text brought forward in favor of purga- 
tory, is taken from St. Paul's first Epistle to the Co- 
rinthians, iii. 15. But I shall here annex the three 
preceding verses, in order that the true meaning of 
the fifteenth verse may be more clearly understood. 
The twelfth and thirteenth verses say, " Now, if any 
man build upon this foundation (meaning Jesus 
Christ) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stub- 
ble ; every man's work shall be made manifest ; for 
the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall 
be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's 
work of what sort it is." The fourteenth verse 
says, u If any man's work abide which he hath built 
thereupon, he shall receive a reward ;" and the fif- 
teenth verse says, " If any man's work burn, he shall 
suffer loss ; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 123 

by fire." It is from this fifteenth verse that Roman 
Catholics wish to deduce an argument in favor of 
purgatory. 

'Now, my friends, upon your attentive perusal of 
the entire passage, you will easily perceive that no 
argument can be adduced from it in support of pur- 
gatory ; for, in the first place, you may observe that 
a every man's work" must be subjected to the fire 
spoken of in this passage. But those who die in 
mortal sin cannot be subjected to this fire ; for, ac- 
cording to the popish doctrine, no one goes to pur- 
gatory but those who die in venial sin. Therefore, 
purgatory cannot be adverted to in this place ; for 
the passage says, u every man's work" must be sub- 
jected to the fire spoken of. 

1 Secondly, it is said in the latter end of the thir- 
teenth verse, " The fire shall try every man's work 
of what sort it is." From this you perceive that the 
fire spoken of, is for trying or proving every man's 
work, and not for purifying the soul ; and therefore 
it cannot be purgatory which is meant here ; for pur- 
gatory, according to Romish doctrine, is intended 
for purging or purifying the souls, and not for trying 
or proving man's work, "of what sort it is." 

c Thirdly, it may be necessary to remark, that the 
apostle speaks in a figurative sense through the entire 
passage I have quoted ; and hence it is not a real 
but an imaginative or supposed fire he alludes to ; for 
he speaks of the works of the ministers of the church. 
Some of those works he calls gold, silver, and pre- 
cious stones; and others of them he denominates 
by the titles of wood, hay, and stubble, Now, my 



124 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



friends, you must be well aware, that it would be 
absurd to suppose that the apostle looked upon the 
works of the ministers of the church as if they were 
really gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or 
stubble, and hence it is equally absurd to suppose 
that these works of gold, silver, precious stones, &c. 
would be subjected to a real fire ; and therefore we 
must naturally conclude that it is a figurative, and 
not a real fire, such as is called purgatory, that the 
apostle alludes to. 

c Lastly, you may perceive from the words of the 
fifteenth verse, that it is not a real, but an imagina- 
tive or supposed fire that the apostle refers to ; for he 
says, "but he himself (meaning the minister) shall 
be saved, yet as by fire which is the same as if 
the apostle had said, But himself (that is, the minis- 
ter) shall be saved as if it were by fire ; which mode 
of expression is quite different from saying that he 
was actually to be purified by fire, as the doctrine of 
purgatory would have it. 

1 The next passage Roman Catholics allude to, in 
favor of purgatory, is taken from Matthew v. 26. 
" Amen, I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from 
thence, till thou pay the last farthing." The place 
spoken of by our Savior in this passage is evidently 
hell, and not purgatory ; as may easily be believed 
from the preceding verse, which says, "Make an 
agreement with thy adversary quickly, whilst thou 
art in the way with him ; lest perhaps the adversary 
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee 
to the ofiicer, and thou be cast into prison." Accord- 
ing to this 25th verse, it is plain our Savior adverts 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 125 

to the necessity of our being reconciled to each fel- 
low-creature whilst "we are in the way;' 5 that is, 
whilst we are on earth : for, if we be not reconciled, 
we must be cast into prison hereafter. Now, my 
Catholic friends, you allow that if a person dies in a 
state of enmity with a fellow-creature, he dies, ac- 
cording to that doctrine, in a state of mortal sin, and 
therefore goes to hell, and not to purgatory; and 
hence it consequently follows that it is hell, and not 
purgatory, our Savior adverts to, in the 26th verse, 
which is a continuation of the meaning of the prison 
spoken of in the 25th. 

6 Catholics may naturally inquire of me, then, how 
am I to explain that part of the 26th verse, where 
our Savior says, " Thou shalt not go out thence, till 
thou pay the last farthing." The word till should 
be understood in the sense of never, as much as 
to say that the person our Savior alludes to, in this 
26th verse, could never leave the prison. The word 
till means never in various parts of the Scriptures ; 
for instance, in Gen. viii. where it is said that Noah 
sent forth a raven out of the ark, which raven, as 
the 7th verse mentions, " did not return till the wa- 
ters were dried upon the earth," that is to say, never 
returned. Again, in 1 Cor. xv. 25, it is said, " For 
he must reign (meaning Christ) until he hath put all 
enemies under his feet." But his reign shall never 
cease ; therefore the word until, in this passage also, 
must be received in the sense of never. Again, the 
Lord is introduced, (in Isaiah xlvi. 4,) saying, " I am 
till you grow old."* But God will never cease to 

* Or ; as the Douay Bible reads, " Even to your old age I am the same/' 
11* 



126 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



exist ; therefore the word till, in all these passages, 
must be understood as meaning never ; and hence it 
should be also received in the same sense in the pas- 
sage where our Savior says, " Thou shalt not go out 
from thence till thou pay the last farthing as much 
as to say the transgressor should never go out of the 
prison : and hence it is hell, and not purgatory, that 
is alluded to in the passage I have quoted. 

' The next passage Roman Catholics refer to, in 
favor of purgatory, is taken from 1 Pet. iii. 19 ; but 
I shall also give the 20th verse, that the true meaning 
of the 19th may be the more easily comprehended. 
The 19th verse says, "In which also (meaning the 
Spirit) he (that is, Christ) came and preached to 
those spirits which were in prison f 7 the 20th verse 
says, "who in time past were incredulous. 7 ' 

1 Now, my friends, the prison spoken of here could 
not be purgatory ; for none, according to Roman 
Catholic doctrine, can go to purgatory, except those 
who die in venial sin. But no one would attempt 
to say that our Savior died in venial sin : and there- 
fore (according to Romish doctrine) it could not be 
the prison of purgatory our Savior went to preach 
through his spirit. 

1 Again, the 20th verse describes the persons that 
were preached to in prison. They were those, 
" who (as the Catholic Bible says) in time past had 
been incredulous." Now, to be incredulous, is to 
disbelieve in the doctrines preached : and to disbe- 
lieve in the doctrines preached, is to be guilty of a 
mortal sin, (as you call it.) But those who die in 
mortal sin go to hell, and not to purgatory ; and 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 127 

therefore the prison spoken of here could not be 
purgatory. 

j 1 You will naturally inquire of me now, who, then, 
were the spirits preached to, and what is the prison 
spoken of, in the 19th verse ? The spirits spoken 
of (as your own Bible testifies) were those that lived 
in the days of Noah, but who disbelieved Noah 
when he preached to them repentance and salvation 
through Christ, for which disbelief they were cast 
into hell : and this is the prison in which the spirits 
were, when St. Peter was writing the 19th verse ; 
therefore the 19th verse by no means proves the ex- 
istence of such an imaginative place as purgatory. 

6 The next text of Roman Catholics in support of 
purgatory, is taken from the 2d book of Maccabees, 
xii. 43, where it is said, " And making (that is, Judas 
Maccabeus) a gathering, he sent twelve thousand 
drachms of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be 
offered for the sins of the dead." Now, in the first 
place, these books of the Maccabees are not canoni- 
cal, but are complete forgeries, and were composed 
by monks in the dark and leaden ages of the church, 
as may easily be collected from the following cir- 
cumstances :~ — First, because Melito, bishop of Sar- 
dis, who lived in the second century, and was the 
first Christian writer that gave a catalogue of the 
books of the Old Testament, did not make the 
slightest reference to such books as the Maccabees ; 
and, secondly, because the council of Laodicea, 
which gave in the year 364 a catalogue of the ca- 
nonical Scripture, did not refer to such fictitious doc- 
uments as the Maccabees. And again, that they are 



128 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

J 

not inspired works, is evident from the words of the r 
author, who says in the last chapter and last verses 
of the Maccabees, "I will here make an end of my 
narration, which, if I have done well, and as it be- 
come th the history, it is what I desired ; but if 
imperfectly, it must be pardoned me." Here the 
author speaks of his liability to imperfection, which 
would not be the case if he supposed himself under 
the effect of inspiration when writing. Lastly, these 
books show their inconsistency, in attributing the 
death of Antiochus to opposite causes: first, by 
asserting in the first book of Maccabees, vi. 13, that 
king Antiochus took to his bed through grief, and 
died there ; whereas in the second book of Maccabees, 
i. 13, it is said he was slain in the temple of Nanea 
by the priests ! ! 

' Now let us come to the text in the Maccabees, 
from which Romanists endeavor to prove purgatory. 
It is this: — ''And making (that is, Maccabeus) a 
gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver 
to Jerusalem, for sacrifice to be offeree 1 for sins for 
the dead.' 5 This passage cannot prove purgatory, 
for all the persons adverted to here were slain for the 
crime of idolatry, as the preceding passage mentions. 
But idolatry is a mortal sin, and those dying in mor- 
tal sin go to hell, and not purgatory ; therefore pur- 
gatory cannot be adverted to in this passage. 

£ Having exposed the absurdity of these arguments 
upon which Romanists found the imaginative ex- 
istence of a purgatory, I shall now, (with God's 
blessing) produce from the Romish Bible some of the 
plainest texts that are totally subversive of such a 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 129 

doctrine. I shall first commence with the Old Tes- 
tament. In Psalm xlviii. (49 in our version) 7, 8, 
it is said, " No brother can redeem, nor shall man 
redeem ; he shall not give to God his ransom, nor the 
price of the redemption of his soul." These words 
would not be true if such a place existed as purga- 
tory ; for Romanists believe that the souls there can 
be relieved by masses, offices, &c, all of which must 
be purchased with money. 

? The book of Wisdom, (which the Romish church 
holds as canonical,) speaking of the righteous or 
just that die in the Lord, says in the 3d chapter 
and 3d verse, "But they are in peace." Again, in 
the 9th verse of the same chapter, it says, " They 
that are faithful in love shall rest in him : (that is, in 
the Lord) for grace and peace are to his elect." But 
if the souls of the just were to go through such an 
ordeal as purgatory, it would be absurd to say that 
they were in peace and rest after their departure from 
this life. Again, it is said in the same chapter, " and 
no torment shall touch them:" that is, the souls 
of the just ; which mode of expression would be 
also preposterous, if purgatory existed. In Ecclesi- 
astes xi. 3, it is said, " If the tree fall to the south 
or to the north, in what place soever it shall fall, 
there shall it lie." But this would not be the case 
if such a place as purgatory existed ; for then the 
soul would remain like Mahomet's coffin, suspended 
in a middle place between heaven and earth. Isaiah 
(lvii. 2) ascribes peace and rest to the just man im- 
mediately after his departure out of this life, which 
would be quite erroneous if such a place as purgatory 



130 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



existed. In Ecclesiasticus xxxviii. 23, (which book, 
according to Romanists, is held canonical,) it is said, 
" When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance 
rest." Again, in Jeremiah xxii. 10, it is said, " Weep 
not for him that is dead, nor bemoan him with your 
tears." Now the advice contained in those two pas- 
sages would be quite ungodly, if such a place as pur- 
gatory existed, or if the souls detained there would 
be relieved by prayers, alms, deeds, penances, acts 
of supererogation, &c. Again, in the fourth book 
of Kings, xxii. 20, (but second book according to 
our version) the Lord is described as thus addressing 
Josiah, " Therefore I will gather thee to thy fathers, 
and thou shalt be gathered to thy sepulchre in peace." 
Now, if such a place of torments as purgatory ex- 
isted for the just, (as it is the just alone, according to 
Romish doctrine, that go there,) then the Lord would 
be misrepresented as saying, that he would gather 
Josiah to his fathers in peace ; for if purgatory ex- 
isted, it would not be peace, but torment, he would 
gather him to. 

c Such are the plain texts of Scripture from the Old 
Testament in your own Bible, against the doctrine 
of purgatory. I shall now select a few passages 
from the New Testament. 

< In Romans viii. 1, it is said, « Wherefore there 
is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ 
Jesus." But if a purgatory existed, there would be 
some condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus ; 
and therefore, that the apostle Paul may not be con- 
sidered as a liar, it is evident, from the above quo- 
tation, that no such place as purgatory exists. 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 131 

1 Again, it is written in St. John's first Epistle, i. 7, 
u And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth 
us from all sin f 5 but purgatory, according to Romish 
doctrine, purges, or what is the same, cleanses from 
venial sins only. Therefore, according to the above 
passage, purgatory cannot exist. 

6 Again, in Heb. x. 17, the Lord is described as 
speaking those words of the righteous, " And their 
sins and their iniquities I will remember no more." 
But if a purgatory existed, then the sins and iniqui- 
ties of the righteous would be remembered ; for the 
righteous alone, according to Romish belief, go there 
and suffer punishment ; therefore, that the text may 
be true, a purgatory cannot exist. 

1 Rom. vi. 23, it is written, " For the wages of sin 
is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life, through 
Jesus Christ our Lord." Now if the apostle supposed 
that such a place as purgatory existed, instead of 
saying, the gift of God is eternal life, he would have 
thus written, " The gift of God, after the souls un- 
dergo the pains of purgatory, will be eternal life 
therefore purgatory (according to the words of the 
text) cannot exist. 

' In John v. 24, it is written, " Amen, amen, I say 
unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth 
him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and cometh 
not into judgment, but is passed from death to life" 
Now, if the evangelist imagined the existence of such 
a place as purgatory, he would not have said of each 
believer that he cometh not into judgment, for surely 
a purgatory is judgment, and a severe one also. Nor 
would he have said of the believer, that he passeth 



132 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



from death to life, if he thought of such a place as 
a purgatory ; for had he thought so, he would have 
said that the believer after death passes to purgatory, 
and from that to eternal life. 

i In the Acts of the Apostles, iv. 12, it is said, " Nor 
is there salvation in any other, (save Jesus.) For 
there is none other name under heaven given to men, 
whereby we must be saved." But if purgatory ex- 
isted, then it would be false to assert that there was 
no salvation but through Christ ; because purgatory, 
according to Romish doctrine, cleanses from sin, and 
therefore gives salvation to the soul. Again, if pur- 
gatory cleansed from venial sin, as Romanists would 
have it, then there would be another name given 
under heaven, whereby we would be saved, which 
is contradictory to the second part of the text ; and 
therefore it cannot be true that such a place as pur- 
gatory exists. 

Lastly, it is said of Christ in 1 John, i. 9, " If we 
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us 
our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity." But 
if purgatory were to cleanse from (what Roman Ca- 
tholics call) venial sins, then false would be the asser- 
tion that Christ cleanses us from all iniquity ; there- 
fore, in accordance with the text quoted, purgatory 
cannot exist.' 

Papists lay great stress, w justifying their doctrine 
of purgatory, on Matt. xii. 32, " And whosoever 
speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be 
forgiven him ; but whosoever speaketh against the 
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 133 

this world, neither in the world to come/' Again ? 
Matt. v. 25, " Agree with thine adversary quickly, 
whiles thou art in the way with him ; lest at any 
time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and 
the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast 
into prison. ? 7 The inference which papists draw 
from these passages, viz. that there is a purgatory or 
middle state, to which the souls of men are tempo- 
rarily consigned, and from which they may be re- 
lieved by popish masses, is altogether erroneous ; it 
is neither good logic, nor sound doctrine. In the 
first of those passages, the papist says, it is proved 
that sins may be forgiven in the next world ; but it 
is clear from the other, that no one could come out 
of purgatory, or this fabulous middle state, without 
paying the last farthing ; therefore, unless debts can 
be paid by masses, they must stay there forever. 
Would it not be a contradiction in terms to forgive a 
debt, and afterwards to require payment of that debt ? 
Such a contradiction would be involved, if the popish 
interpretation of both these texts were correct. 

Papists refer us to 1 Pet. iii. 18—20, " For Christ 
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the un- 
just, that he might bring us to God, being put to 
death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit ; by 
which also he went and preached unto the spirits 
in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when 
once the long-suffering of God waited in the days 
of Noe, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, 
that is, eight souls, were saved by water. n Nothing 
more clearly proves how entirely unacquainted pa- 
pists are with the Scriptures than the interpretation 
12 



134 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



which they give to this passage. By prison they 
understand some place of repentance in after-life, 
where they are temporarily confined. The meaning 
of the passage is, that they were in bondage to sin ; 
this was the usual mode of expression used in de- 
scribing persons who were in bondage to sin. " The 
Spirit of the Lord is upon me," said our Savior, in 
Luke iv. 18, "because he hath anointed me to preach 
the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the 
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, 
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty 
them that are bruised." Can papists be so blind, as 
not to see the absurdity and wickedness of their be- 
lief in purgatory ? They say, in one breath, that 
purgatory is a place for the punishment of venial 
sins ; but they forget, or do not understand, that those 
persons to whom our Savior preached in prison, were 
guilty of mortal and damning sins; "and God saw 
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth." 

But if papists still have any difficulty in under- 
standing the doctrine of purgatory, I would refer them 
to 2 Pet. ii. 1, " Wherefore there were false prophets 
also among the people, even as there shall be false 
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in dam- 
nable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought 
them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." 
This explains to you, papists, both the cause and 
extent of your deception on the subject of purgatory ; 
your priests are false prophets ; they are deceiving 
and bringing you to destruction. It is scarcely my 
province to teach you how you are to be delivered 
from your infatuation : I trust the Lord in his mercy 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 135 

will do it in his own due time, not by countenancing 
your priests in offering masses for your souls for the 
purpose of delivering them from purgatory, but by 
inspiring you with a belief in the gospel, and faith 
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone you can 
hope for salvation. Remember, there is a false 
church spoken of in Revelations. The destruction 
of that church is clearly foretold. The Lord has set 
a mark upon that church ; and if you are not as 
blind as darkness can make you, you must see that 
the popish church is the one alluded to ; she, alone, 
teaches her followers to believe in purgatory ; she, 
alone, makes merchandise of the souls of men. 

The Mass continues. 

R. — Offerimus tibi, Domine, calicem salutaris, tu- 
am deprecantes clementiam ; ut in conspectu divinae 
majestatis tuse pro nostra et totius mundi salute cum 
odore suavitatis ascendat. Amen. 

Trans. — We offer to thee, O Lord, the chalice of 
salvation, beseeching thy compassion that it may 
ascend as a sweet odor in the sight of thy Divine 
Majesty, for our salvation and that of the whole 
world. Amen. 

R. — Deinde facit signum crucis cum calice, et il- 
lam ponit super corporale, et palla cooperit; turn 
junctis manibus super altare, aliquantulum inclinatus 
dicit. 

Trans. — Then he makes the sign of the cross 
with the chalice, and places it upon the corporal, and 
covers it with a napkin ; then joining his hands upon 
the altar, and bending himself a little towards it, he 
says— 



136 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



R. — In spiritu humilitatis et in animo contrito, 
suscipiamur a te, Domine ; et sic fiat sacrificium nos- 
trum in conspectu tuo hodie, ut placeat tibi, Domine 
Deus. 

Trans. — May we be received with a spirit of hu- 
mility and with a contrite heart, by thee, O Lord 
God ; and may our sacrifice be made this day in thy 
sight, O Lord God, so as to be acceptable to thee. 

R. — Suscipe, sancta Trinitas, hanc oblatioiiem, 
quam tibi offerimus ob memoriam passionis, resurrec- 
tionis et ascensionis Jesu Christi, Domini nostri, et 
in honorem beatae Mariee semper Virginis, et beati 
Johannis Baptistae et sanctorum apostolorum Petri et 
Pauli, et istorum et omnium sanctorum ; ut illis pro- 
ficiat ad honorem, nobis autem ad salutem, et illi pro 
nobis intercedere dignentur in coelis, quorum memo- 
riam agimus in terris. Per eundem Christum, Domi- 
num nostrum. Amen. 

Trans. — Receive, O blessed Trinity, this oblation 
which we offer to thee in memory of the passion, 
resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord, 
and in honor of the blessed Mary ever a Virgin, and 
of the blessed John the Baptist, and of the blessed 
apostles Peter and Paul, and of these and all the saints, 
that it may advance their honor and our salvation, 
and that they may vouchsafe to intercede for us in 
heaven, whose memory we preserve on earth, through 
the same Christ our Lord. Amen. 

R. — Postea osculatur altare, et versus ad populum 
extendens et jungens manus, voce paululum elevata 
dicit — 

Trans. — Then he kisses the altar, and turning to 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 137 

the people, extending and joining his hands, he says, 
in a voice moderately loud— 

R. — Orate, fratres, ut me urn ac vestrum sacrificium 
acceptabile fiat apud Deum Patrem omnipotentem. 

Trans. — Pray, brethren, that mine and your sa- 
crifice may be acceptable with God the Father Al- 
mighty. 

R. — Minister seu circumstantes respondent, alio- 
quin ipsemet sacerdos — 

Trans.— The clerk or those who stand around, 
otherwise the priest himself, says — 

R. — Suscipiat Dominus hoc sacrificium de manibus 
tuis (vel meis,) ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui, ad 
utilitatem quoque nostram, totiusque ecclesise suse 
sanctse. 

Trans. — May the Lord receive this sacrifice from 
your hands, (or mine,) to the praise and glory of his 
name, and for our benefit and that of the whole 
church. 

R. — Sacerdos submissa voce dicit — Amen. 
Trans. — The priest says then with a low voice— 
Amen. 

jR. — Deinde manibus extensis absolute sine "Ore- 
mus," subjungit orationes secretas. Gluibus finitis, 
cum pervenerit ad conclusionem clara voce dicit, Per 
omnia saecula sa3culorum, cum prsefatione, ut in 
sequentibus. Prsefatio incipitur ambabus manibus 
positis hinc inde super altare. duas aliquantulum 
elevat cum dicit " Sursum corda." Jungit eas ante 
pectus et caput inclinat, cum dicit " Gratias agimus 
Domino Deo nostro." Deinde disjungit manus, et 
disjunctas tenet usque ad finem praefationis. Q,ua 
12* 



138 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

finita, iterum jungit eas, et inclinatus dicit " Sanc- 
tus,-" et cum dicit "Benedictus qui venit," signum 
crucis sibi producit a fronte ad pectus. 

Trans. — Then his hands widely extended, with- 
out saying, " Let us pray," he repeats the secret 
prayers, [these the people cannot hear ;] which being 
finished, when he comes to the end he says with a 
loud voice, " For ever and ever," with the preface, 
as is mentioned in the " sequences," which are dif- 
ferent on different days : the preface is begun, both 
hands being placed separately over the altar. He 
raises them a little when he says, "Lift up your 
hearts." He then joins them before his breast, and 
bows his head when he says, " We give thee thanks, 
O Lord our God." Then he separates his' hands, 
and holds them separate until the end of the preface ; 
which being ended, he joins them again, and bow- 
ing says the " Sanctus," [or the prayer commencing 
with the word sanctus, or holy ;] and when he says, 
" Blessed is he that comes," he makes the sign of 
the cross from his forehead to his breast. 

The preface being different at different periods of 
the year, we shall only give one of them ; and we 
would here remark, how utterly useless all these 
forms which the priest uses appear, and how un- 
meaning are the various attitudes into which he is 
taught, by rule, to put himself, when we consider 
the object and design of prayer. 

R. — Sequens praefatio dicitur a nativitate Domini 
usque ad Epiphaniam (praeterquarn in die S. Johannis 
Apostoli) et in purificatione B. Marias et in festo Cor- 
poris Christ i et per octavam, nisi in ea occurrit festum, 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 139 

quod propriam prsefationem habet, et in transfigura- 
tione Domini 

Trans. — The following preface is said from the 
nativity of our Lord to the Epiphany, (except upon 
the Octave or eighth day of St. John the Apostle, and 
also in the purification of the blessed Mary, and in 
the feast of Corpus Christi, or of the body of Christ, 
and through the Octave to the eighth day after ; un- 
less a festival occurs, Which has its own proper pre- 
face ; and also in the transfiguration of our Lord 

Priest. — Per omnia sascula saeculorum, 

T. — For ever and ever* 

Response. — Amen. 

P. — Dominus vobiscum. 

T. — The Lord be with you. 

R. — Et cum spiritu tuo. 

T. — And with thy spirit 

P.— Sursum corda* 

T.— Lift up your hearts. 

R.~ Habemus ad Dominum. 

T. — We lift them up unto the Lord. 

P. — Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro. 

T. — -Let us give thanks to our Lord God. 

R. — Dignum et justum est. 

T. — It is just and right to do so. 

Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare 5 nos 
tibi semper et ubique gratias agere, Domine sancte 3 
Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus. Quia per incarnati 
verbi mysterium nova mentes nostrae oculis lux tuag 
claritatis infulsit, ut dum visibiliter Deum cognosci- 
mus, per hunc invisibilium amorem rapiamur, Et 
ideo cum angelis et archangelis, cum thronis et do- 



140 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



minationibus, eumque enim militia coslestis exercitus, 
hymnum gloriae tuae canimus, sine fine dicentes — £ 

Trans. — It is truly proper, and right, and just, 
and healthful, that we should give thanks to thee 
always and every where, O Lord, holy Father, Al- 
mighty, eternal God, because through the mystery 
of the incarnate Word, a new light of thy glory has 
shone upon the eyes of our mind, so that while we 
behold God visibly, we are carried away by this love 
of invisible things ; and, therefore, with the angels 
and archangels, with thrones and dominions, and with 
all the army of the heavenly host, we sing forth the 
hymn of thy praise, saying : — 

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sa- 
baoth. 

Trans. — Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, 
(or of Hosts.) 

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloriae tuae. Hosanna in 
excelsis. 

Trans. — The heavens and earth are full of thy 
glory. Hosanna in the highest. 

J?. — Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Ho- 
sanna in excelsis. 

Trans. — Blessed is he that cometh in the name 
of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. 

Next follows the canon of the Mass. 

R. — Sacerdos extendens et jungens manus, elevans 
ad coslum oculos, et statim dimittens profunde incli- 
natus ante altare, manibus super eo positis, dicit, 
\ Trans. — The priest, standing and joining his 
hands and raising his eyes to heaven, and immedi- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHUBCH* 141 

ately casting them down, bending himself very low 
before the altar, and placing his hands over it, says 3 

S. — Te igitur, clementissime Pater, per lesum 
Christum, Filium tuum, Dominum nostrum, supplices 
rogamus ac petimus (osculatur altare) uti, accepta 
habeas et benedicas, (jungit manus, deinde signat 
ter super oblata,) hsec dona, haec *|* munera, hasc 

sancta sacrificia illibata, (extensis manibus prose- 
quitur,) in primis, quae tibi offerimus pro ecclesia tua 
sancta Catholica, quam pacificare, custodire, adunare 5 
et regere digneris, toto orbe terrarum, una cum 
famulo tuo papa nostro N — , et antistite nostro N« — , 
et omnibus orthodoxis atque catholicse et apostolicas 
fidei eultoribus. 

Trans.— We, as suppliants, beseech thee, O mer- 
ciful Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, thy Son, our 
Lord, (he here kisses the altar) that thou mayst hold 
and bless these ^ gifts, (let him then join his hands ? 
and after that make the sign of the cross three times 
upon the oblation,) these *ft offerings, these holy 
sacrifices poured out, (he proceeds then with extend- 
ed hands,) chiefly which we offer to thee for thy 
holy Catholic church, which mayst thou vouchsafe 
to keep in peace, to watch over, and unite in one, 
and govern all over tho world, together with thy ser- 
vant N— our pope (or father) and our Bishop N — , 
and with all the orthodox worshipers of the Catholic 
and apostolic faith. 

R. — Commemoratio pro vivis. 

Trans. — Commemoration for the living. 

S. — Memento, Domine, famulorum famularumque 
tuorum et (jungit manus, orat aliquan- 



142 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



tulum pro quibus orare intendit, deinde manibus ex- 
tensis prosequitur,) et omnium circumstantium, quo- 
rum tibi fides cognita est, et nota devotio, pro quibus 
tibi offerimus, (vel qui tibi offerunt hoe sacrificium 
laudis,) pro se suisque omnibus, pro redemptione ani- 
marum suarum, pro spe salutis et incolumitatis suae, 
tibique reddant vota sua asterno Deo, vivo et vero. 

Trans. — Remember, O Lord, thy servants, (here 

the priest joins his hands, and prays for ,) and 

all those here present, whose faith is approved of by 
thee, and whose devotion is known, for whom we 
make this offering, (or, who offer to thee this sacrifice 
of praise,) for themselves and all their families, for 
the redemption of their souls, for the hope of salva- 
tion and of their safety, and for which they pay 
their vows to thee, the eternal, living and true God. 

Is it not strange that a Christian minister — if Ave 
may be allowed to call a popish priest by that name — 
should repeat such a prayer as the above ? Some of 
it is scriptural, and it would appear as if the inter- 
cession of Jesus Christ was enough ; but this is con- 
tradicted in another part of the same prayer. Is it 
not an outrage and an insult to the Lamb of God, 
who taketh away the sins of the world, to be spoken 
of in one place as if he alone could save man, and 
in the next place to call upon angels, as it were, to 
aid him in accomplishing this divine purpose ? Wash 
your hands, Roman Catholics, from any participation 
in the creed of a church which inculcates such blas- 
phemous doctrine as this. 

The Mass continues as follows — but as I can 
make no improvement upon the subject which may 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 143 

elucidate it more clearly than has been done before^ 
by the Rev. John Rogerson Cotter, parish priest or 
rector of Innisshannon, in a work of his, recently 
published, upon the Mass and Rubrics of the Roman 
Catholic church, I will quote largely from that work. 
I do so for several reasons, but chiefly because I 
know that he has translated the Latin Mass correctly 
into English, and also because his comments upon 
the whole are in strict accordance with my own 
views. 

R. — Tenens ambabus manibus hostiam inter indi- 
ces et pollices, profert verba consecrationis, secreto, 
distincte, et attente. 

Trans. — Holding the host with both his hands 
between his forefingers and thumbs, he says the 
words of consecration secretly, distinctly, and atten- 
tively, or with intention— HOC EST ENIM COR- 
PUS MEUM. — For this is my body. 

R. — Prolatis verbis consecrationis, statim hostiam 
consecratam genuflexus adorat. Surgit, ostendit 
populo, reponit super eorporale, iterum adorat. Et 
non disjungit pollices et indices nisi quando hostia 
tractanda est usque ad absolutionem. Tunc detecto 
calice, dicit— / r "• ' " 

Trans. — Having finished the words of consecra- 
tion, immediately kneeling down, he adores the con- 
secrated host. He then rises up, shows it to the peo- 
ple, places it upon the corporal, and again adores it. 
And he does not separate his fingers and thumbs, 
only when the host is to be laid down, until the 
oblation, or washing of his fingers. Then, uncov- 
ering the chalice, he says — 



144 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

R. — Simili modo postquam coenatum est (ambabus 
manibus accipit calicem) accipiens et hunc prseclarum 
calicem in sanctas ac venerabiles manus suas ; item 
tibi gratias agens (sinistra tenens calicem dextera 
signat super eum) bene dixit deditque discipulis 
suis, dicens — Accipite et bibite ex eo omnes. 

Trans. — In like manner, when supper was ended, 
(the priest takes the chalice with both his hands,) 
taking this glorious chalice also into his holy and 
venerable hands, likewise giving thanks to thee, 
(holding the chalice in his left hand, with the right 
he makes the sign of the cross upon it, he blessed 
and gave it to his disciples, saying — Take and drink 
ye all of this. 

R.~ Profert verba consecrationis secreto super cali- 
cem, tenens ilium param elevatum. 

Trans. — He then says the words of consecration 
secretly over the chalice, holding it raised up a little, 

HlC EST ENIM CALJX SANGUINIS ME I NOVI ET JETERNI 
TESTA ME NT I MYSTERIUM FEDEI, QTJ.E FRO NOBIS ET PRO 
MULTIS EFFUNBETUR IN REMISSIONEM PECCATORUM. 

Trans, — For this is the chalice of my blood of 
the new and eternal testament, the mystery of the 
faith which shall be shed for you and for many, for 
the remission of sins. 

R. — Prolatis verbis consecrationis, deponit calicem 
super corporale et dicens secreto, "Hoc, quoties- 
cunque faceritis, in mei memoriam facie tis." 

Genuflexus adorat, surgit, ostendit populo, deponit, 
cooperit, et iterum adorat. Deinde disjunctis mani- 
bus dicit. 

Trans. — Having finished the words of consecra- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 145 

tiorij he places the chalice upon the corporal, also 
saying, secretly — "As often' as you shall do these 
things, you shall do them in remembrance of me, 5 ' 
Kneeling down, he adores it — rises up, shows it to 
the people ; lays it down, covers it, and again adores 
it : then having separated his hands, he says — 

Unde et memores, Domine, nos servi tui, sed et 
plebs tua sancta, ejusdem Christi, Filii tui, Domini 
nostri, tarn beatas passionis, necnon, et ab inferis re- 
surrectionis, sed et in coelos gloriosae ascensionis, 
offerimus praeclaras majestati tuae, de tuis donis ac 
datis, (jungit manus et signat ter super hostiam et 
calicem simul,) hostiam ^# puram, hostiam *J* sane- 
tarn, hostiam ^ immaculatam, (signat semel super 
hostiam et semel super calicem,) panem »J* sanctum 
vitae aeternae et calicem *J# salutis perpetuae. 

Trans. — Wherefore, also, O Lord, we thy ser- 
vants, and thine holy people, being mindful of the 
blessed passion of the same Christ, our Lord, and 
also of his resurrection from the dead, ^ and also of 
his glorious ascension into heaven, offer to thy divine 
majesty, of thy gifts bestowed upon us, (he joins his 
hands, and makes the sign of the cross three times 
upon the host and chalice at the same time,) a pure 
*J* host, a holy *|* host, an unspotted ^ host, (he 
makes the sign of the cross once over the host and 
once over the chalice,) the holy »J* bread of eternal 
life, and the chalice »|# of everlasting salvation. 

JR. — Extensis manibus prosequitur. 

Trans. — He continues with his hands extended. 

Supra quas, propitio ac sereno vultu respicere, 
digneris, et accepta habere, sicuti accepta habere dig- 
13 



146 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

natus es munera pueri tui justi Abel, et sacrificium 
'patriarchs nostri Abraham, et quod tibi summus 
sacerdos tuus Melchisedech, obtulit sanctum sacrifi- 
cium, immaculatam hostiam. 

Trans. — Upon which vouchsafe to look with a 
propitious and serene countenance, and to accept 
them, as thou vouchsafed to accept the gifts of thy 
righteous servant Abel, and the sacrifice of our patri- 
arch Abraham, and what the high priest Melchise- 
dech offered to thee, a holy sacrifice, an unspotted 
host, or victim. 

R. — Profunde inclinatus junctis manibus, et super 
altare positis, dicit. 

Trans. — Bowing lowly with his hands joined, and 
placed upon the altar, he says — 

Supplices te rogamus, omnipotens Deus, jube hasc 
perferri per manus sancti angeli tui in sublime altare 
tuum, in conspectu divinse majestatis tuse ; ut quot- 
quot (osculatur altare) ex hac altaris participatione 
sacrosanctum Filii tui, (jungit manus et signat simul 
super hostiam et simul super calicem, cor *ft pus et 
san ^ guinem sumpserimus, (seipsum signat,) omni 
benedictione ccelesti et gratia repleamur. Per eun- 
dem Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen. 

Trans. — We, as suppliants, beseech thee, O om- 
nipotent God, to command that these things (name- 
ly, the oblation of what the church calls the body 
and blood of Christ) may be carried by the hands of 
thy holy angel to thine altar on high, in the sight of 
thy divine majesty, that as many of us (he here 
kisses the altar) as shall have taken, by the partici- 
pation of this altar, of the most sacred body and 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 147 

blood of thy Son, (he joins his hands, and makes 
the sign of the cross once upon the host, and once 
upon the chalice, then crosses himself,) may be filled 
with all heavenly blessing and grace, through the 
same Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

i This part of the service is considered to be the 
most important, and contains much to be remarked 
upon. We discover various grounds for serious 
charges against the popish church, which has thought 
fit to change the entire design of the Lord's supper, 
and has substituted instead thereof a number of pray- 
ers and forms unknown in Scripture, unheard of in 
the ancient church, and utterly inconsistent with 
each other. The first remark we shall here make, 
is your not using bread as our Lord did — you who 
pretend to follow every thing so very literally. He, 
as you quote in your prayer of consecration, took 
bread and broke it, and gave it to his disciples. 
Why do you, in this respect, depart from antiquity ? 
Again, he told them to take and eat it. The Latin 
word which you translate "eat" is " manducate," 
which signifies "to chew," to break with the teeth. 1 
But, contrary to this express command, you desire 
your communicants not "to chew," but "to swal- 
low ;" and this they could not do so conveniently, if 
they had not thin wafers. Now we are told that our 
blessed Lord took bread and broke it, and gave it to 
his disciples, Matt. xxvi. 26, Mark xiv. 22, Luke 
xxii. 19. Of course we are to suppose he held a 
loaf or a large piece of bread in his hands, and so 
broke off pieces of it, and gave them to his disciples. 
And, in accordance with this view, Paul says, 1 Cor. 



148 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



x. 17, "all partake of one bread." The one loaf is 
typical of the body of Christ broken for believers, 
representing the unity of his mystical body. Epi- 
phanius tells us that these loaves used at the cele- 
bration of the eucharist were round, and divided 
amongst the communicants. Justin Martyr tells us, 
that bread, or loaves, is brought to the bishop for 
the communicants. The change gradually crept 
into the church, although the sixteenth council of 
Toledo/sixth canon, held A. D. 693, endeavored to 
provide against this abuse, and brought forward 
the passages from Scripture quoted above, to show 
that our Lord made use of a whole loaf. In the 
eleventh century, the practice of using wafers be- 
came general, though greatly opposed, as we find 
by reference to church history. And in this your 
(the popish) church has acted consistently, when 
she taught them the new doctrine of transubstan- 
tiation, as we shall see. Again, our blessed Lord 
said, " Take this but you do not permit your peo- 
ple to touch it with their hands ; they open their 
mouths, and the priest places a wafer upon the 
tongue of each. Here you have three practices, all 
unknown in the ancient church — L contrary to what 
our blessed Lord did, the use of whole or entire wa- 
fers, instead of bread broken — 2, the not eating or 
chewing the bread or wafer — and 3, the commu- 
nicant not taking it in his hand, but only opening 
his mouth to receive it on his tongue. 

£ The priest goes on to pray that the oblations, 
that is, the bread and wine, may become the body and 
the blood of our Lord. He then takes the host, and 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 149 

I 

repeats the words of our Lord, as recorded in the Gos- 
pels, in which the Catholic church has presumed to 
make a change, for we no where find it stated that 
our Lord commanded all to eat the bread j thus blas- 
phemously introducing an expression into the lan- 
guage of our Lord, no where to be found in the Holy 
Scriptures, even in their own translations, for the 
purpose of justifying their practice of withholding 
the cup from the laity, and of neutralizing the force 
of tjie word " all" used by our Lord when he gave 
the wine. 

6 Then the priest repeats what the Catholic church 
now teaches is " the prayer of consecration," and this 
secretly to himself : " Hoc est enim corpus meum," 
— " for this is my body." The church now asserts 
that the bread has become the body of our Lord ; 
and the consequence is, thai the priest immediately 
falls down and worships what he holds in his hands, 
and the rest all foolishly and impiously do the same. 
He proceeds then to consecrate the wine, using the 
words which are to be found in the Douay Testa- 
ment, secretly, that is, to himself only ; and then he 
falls down and worships what the church teaches 
has become the blood of our Lord. 

1 And now I inquire, why does the priest repeat 
these words secretly r , and to himself alone ? Here is 
another departure from Scripture, for our Lord spoke 
aloud. Is it not sufficient to have these services in 
Latin, understood by scarcely any of the people, but 
they must also ehdeavor to wrap them in even greater 
obscurity, by this and other prayers being repeated 
by the priest alone, and that to himself, in order to 
13* 



150 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

mystify the matter, and to fill the people with greater 
awe ? The church teaches that, by virtue of these 
words of consecration, the bread has become the 
body, and the wine the blood of our Lord. Even 
in this, namely, the form and words of consecration, 
the modern church differs from the ancient church. 
St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, who lived in the 
fourth century, says, as quoted by Dupin, vol. i. p. 
222, that " the bread and the wine of the eucharist, 
before the invocation of the adorable Trinity, is> but 
common bread and wine ; but prayer being ended, 
the bread is the body of Christ, and the wine the 
blood of Christ." We pass over how he explains 
his meaning of this expression, which is very differ- 
ent indeed from the popish doctrine of transubstan- 
tiation, as it would lead us from our present purpose 
Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome in the sixth and 
part of the seventh century, says : — " The reason we 
say the Lord's prayer immediately after the prayer 
of consecration, (or canon,) is, because the apostles 
were wont to consecrate the host of the oblation by 
that prayer only." Where, then, we inquire, is their 
authority for persuading the people, that, by pro- 
nouncing these secret words, this mighty change 
takes place ? And does it not appear strange that 
Catholic writers differ among themselves as to what 
constitutes the consecrating power ? — and the more 
ancient these writers are, the more they differ from 
their present practices ! 

c Even admitting, for argument sake, that the bread 
does become the body, and the wine the blood of 
our Lord, by what authority do Catholics say that 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 151 

both body and blood are included under either spe- 
cies, by what that church calls the doctrine of " con- 
comitance/ 7 a phrase totally unknown in the primi- 
tive ages, and which their own forms in the Mass 
entirely refute ? Now see in what a position Catho- 
lics are placed by their church, by her departure 
from scriptural truth. In the most unwarrantable 
manner, they shut up the words of our Lord in an 
unknown language, and in that language the Re- 
deemer invites his faithful followers to partake of his 
supper, and the church prevents them from hearing 
or understanding the invitation. 

6 In the primitive church, no persons were permit- 
ted to be present at the celebration of the eucharist 
unless they partook of the sacred elements. The 
tenth canon of those which are known by the title 
of the apostolic canons, is express upon this point, 
and says that " those persons who assemble at the 
church to attend at the sacred ordinances, should 
listen to the writings of the apostles, the sacred Scrip- 
lures, and the Gospel ; but those who do not remain 
in prayer until the Mass is finished, or who do not 
partake of the holy communion, it is right that they 
should be deprived of communion," that is, should 
be excommunicated. In the second canon of the 
third council held at Antioch, in the fourth century, 
we have severe ecclesiastical censures denounced 
against those who were present at the prayers, and 
did not partake of the holy communion. The very 
words of our blessed Lord used in the Mass condemn 
that practice ; he says, " Take, eat, and drink ye all 
of this," a command which all those present do not 



152 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



comply with. What are called solitary Masses, 
which the priests frequently celebrate, where the 
people present do not communicate, were utterly un- 
known in the primitive church. It remained for the 
Roman church to introduce such novelties as entirely 
changed the nature of the institution, and to mock 
the audience by an invitation to a feast, of which no 
person is allowed to partake but the priest. 

6 After the consecration, he adores the consecrated 
elements, and elevates them in the sight of the peo- 
ple, who also adore. This practice was utterly un- 
known in the primitive church. Our blessed Lord 
says, u Take and eat."' Catholics depart from this 
by the command of their church ; they neither take 
it nor eat it, but fall down and worship it. In like 
manner, with respect to the consecrated wine, the 
church tells them it is changed into the blood of our 
Lord, and our Lord tells all to drink of it — a direc- 
tion he does not give respecting the bread, notwith- 
standing the wickedness of the infallible church in 
inserting that word in reference to the bread, as we 
have before shown ; as if, in his infinite wisdom, he 
foresaw the anti-scriptural practices of that church, 
and wished to guard against them by his own author- 
ity, and thus the precept of our Lord, as recorded by 
his apostles, and the practice of the Catholic church, 
are in complete opposition one to the other. 

' Our Lord's command for all to drink the chalice, 
or wine, they give in the consecration prayer ; so 
that out of her own mouth that church is condem- 
ned. How can Catholics justify their departure from 
Scripture in this instance ? That church admits it 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 153 

was the primitive practice ; but the reasons she brings 
forward to justify the change, are really unworthy 
of comment. Our Lord commanded both to be 
given : he commanded his apostles to teach all na- 
tions to observe what he had commanded, Matt, 
xxviii. They assert, that under one kind both the 
body and blood are taken. Where is this taught ? 
Admitting that the bread is the body, and the wine 
the blood, how is it shown that both are the same, as, 
if the church teaches correctly, must be the case?— 
But it is evident the primitive church understood it 
in no such sense ; for then the words of the conse- 
cration of both species would be the same ; but the 
words with them are different, using very properly 
those of our Lord, and with the grossest inconsis- 
tency making no difference between the two species 
which are called by different names. 

1 In order to defend communion in one kind, they 
refer to several passages in the Gospels, where they 
say the eucharist is spoken of in the expression of 
" breaking of bread." We could easily show that 
such expressions do not refer to the eucharist at all ; 
but still, according to the newly-invented doctrine 
of " concomitance," receiving in one kind would be 
impossible, as the body and blood always go toge- 
ther, and receiving both species would be only taking 
the same thing twice over. Thus all the arguments 
to show the sufficiency of one species fall to the 
ground. 

1 Perhaps there is no one departure of the Catholic 
church from the pure doctrines of the gospel more 
plainly against the express command of our Lord. 



154 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

Men were to be instructed, as he said, Matt, xxvii. 
20, to do as he taught. Now the council of Con- 
stance, held in the fifteenth century, the first of their 
infallible councils which summoned up sufficient 
courage expressly to contradict our Lord's direct 
command, admits " that Christ did institute this sa- 
crament in both kinds, and that the faithful in the 
primitive church did receive in both kinds." Gela- 
tius, bishop of Rome in the fifth century, spoke in 
the strongest language against the Manichees, (an- 
cient heretics,) who would only take the bread, and 
rejected the wine. His expression was, that "such 
was a dividing of one and the same mystery or sa- 
crament, which cannot be done without sacrilege."' 

< It would be impossible, within a short compass, 
to quote the opinions of the ancient fathers of the 
church, and the decrees of various councils testifying 
to the same truth. The present practice followed, 
as a necessary consequence, from the doctrine of 
transubstantiation : and the church, in order to work 
out consistently that false and absurd novelty, has 
been compelled to disobey the positive, the plain, 
and express command of our Lord, and to violate 
the uniform practice of the ancient church for more 
than one thousand years, Be assured of this, how- 
ever highly they are instructed to value themselves 
upon their orthodoxy, had that church, with its 
present doctrines, existed in the early ages, she would 
have been considered by the primitive fathers as one 
of those heretical churches of the most dangerous 
and wicked description, and as most opposed to the 
pure light of gospel truth, and every exertion would 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 155 

f i 

have been made to convince her of ? and to free her 
from, her heresy. 

6 In part of this prayer of consecration, we have a 
remarkable illustration of the truth of some of our 
preceding observations. We stated that, at the holy 
communion, it was the custom of the primitive 
Christians to bring offerings or oblations for the sup- 
port of the church ; out of these which were offered 
to God, were taken the bread and wine for the cele- 
bration of the eucharist, and this was the offering or 
oblation mentioned sometimes by the early fathers. 

6 Papists say, " Wherefore, O Lord, we, thy servants, 
offer unto thy most excellent majesty, of thy gifts 
bestowed upon us, a pure host, an holy host, an im- 
maculate host j the blessed bread of eternal life, and 
the chalice of everlasting salvation." Here we find 
traces of ancient doctrine, though miserably cor- 
rupted. Both the elements are called the host, or 
victim ; but still the one is called the bread, and the 
other the chalice, or cup of eternal life. Surely, 
when this prayer was composed, at least the ancient 
part of it, the doctrine of the bread and the wine 
after consecration being virtually the same, or two 
bodies and two bloods, could never have been enter- 
tained in the church — nor could the early Christians 
ever have believed that they, when spoken of in 
this manner, had become the very- body and the very 
blood of our blessed Lord, and therefore to be wor- 
shiped. 

' We come next to remark upon the prayer used 
after consecration, which we gave before, where they 
call upon God to look upon what is offered to him 



156 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



with a propitious and serene countenance, and to 
accept them as the gift of Abel was accepted, and 
the sacrifice of Abraham, and what the high priest 
Melchisedech offered, a holy sacrifice, an unspotted 
host, or victim. What is the meaning of this prayer ? 
Upon their own principles they are taught to believe 
that the oblation they present is the body and blood 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they call upon God to 
look upon them with a serene and propitious coun- 
tenance. Surely they must forget their own belief 
in other points. Surely God has accepted them — 
surely God has looked with favor upon his Son 
Jesus, and raised him from the dead ; and that same 
body and blood is now at the right hand of God, 
united with the divinity of Jesus, to make inter- 
cession for us. Papists call upon God to accept them 
as he accepted Abel's offerings or Abraham's sacrifice, 
presumptuously comparing them to the offering made 
by Jesus upon the cross. Why were these sacrifices 
accepted, as sin-offerings, but because there was a 
victim slain ? Abel's was the firstling of his flocks ; 
and we also read of the bloody sacrifice made by 
Abraham, Gen. xxii. 13, of the ram, instead of his 
son Isaac ; all which had no merit in themselves, but 
only as they were typical of that one great sacrifice 
made by Jesus upon the cross. 

' They also allude to the holy sacrifice, the unspot- 
ted host of Melchisedech. Where did the infalli* 
hie church discover that Melchisedech ever offered 
a holy sacrifice, an unspotted host to God ? Look 
to the Bible, — and, blessed be God, Catholics can, in 
this free country, do so with impunity — open it at 



IN THE BOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 157 

Gen. xiv. 18. Abraham, we are told in the preced- 
ing verses, was returning home, after having defeated 
and slain those kings who had taken his nephew Lot 
captive, and all his possessions. But Melchisedech, 
king of Salem, bringing forth bread and wine, for 
he was the priest of the most high God, blessed him 
and said, " Blessed be Abraham, by the most high 
God, who created heaven and earth, and blessed be 
the most high God, by whose protection your enemies 
are in your hands. And he (Abraham) gave him tithes 
of all he had taken." There is no further mention 
of the matter. Where then is the holy sacrifice, the 
unspotted host, which the Catholic church profanely 
says Melchisedech offered to God ? The high priest 
brought out bread and wine to Abraham and his men, 
wherewith to refresh themselves. What is there 
here to countenance the notion of sacrifice ? The 
Catholic and the Protestant translations of this pas- 
sage are not the same. I give them all the benefit 
of their own translation, however erroneous we be- 
lieve it to be. 

1 1 will now show, upon the authority of St. Paul, 
what the true meaning of that expression is, of our 
Lord " being a priest forever after the order of Mel- 
chisedech." We refer to the seventh chapter of 
Hebrews, where he is comparing the superior excel- 
lence of the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ to 
the Jewish priesthood. Is it not then most remark- 
able, that in describing the priesthood of Melchise- 
dech, he should omit that very particular in which 
the Roman Catholic church asserts his priesthood to 
consist ? He enumerates every particular related by 
14 



158 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



Moses in Genesis respecting him, with the exception 
of his bringing forth bread and wine ; and why 
does he omit this, but because the apostle considered 
it constituted no part of his priestly office, but of his 
kingly office ? an allusion to which was not at all to 
the purpose that St. Paul had in view. It was the 
custom for nations and kings, as we read in Scripture 
and elsewhere, to supply the armies of their friends 
with provisions as they passed in their neighborhood— 
Deut. ii. 28, 29 ; xxiii. 4 ; Judges viii. 5, 6 ; 2 Sam. 
xvii. 27. The priestly acts of Melchisedech are 
mentioned expressly by the apostle, namely, his 
blessing Abraham, and his receiving from him tenths 
or tithes. How was he then likened unto the Son 
of God? The apostle tells us, ver. 3, " because he 
was without father, without mother, without gene- 
alogy ; having neither beginning of days, nor end of 
life." Now see the apostle's argument. He wished, 
as we before observed, to show the superior excel- 
lence of our Lord's priesthood to that of the Jewish. 
Melchisedech was the priest of the most high God ; 
and we find him exercising this office, as the apostle 
states, by receiving tithes from Abraham, and bless- 
ing him. The father and mother of Melchisedech 
are not known ; his genealogy or descent is not re- 
corded, rather is purposely omitted, by the direction 
of the Holy Spirit, by whom Moses was guided in 
his writings ; his birth or his death is not ascertain- 
ed — who his predecessor in the priesthood was, or 
who his successor, is not known. Consequently the 
Jews could not argue against our Lord's priesthood, 
because he was not of the family of Levi, but descend- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 159 

ed from the tribe of Judah ; for we find Abraham, the 
ancestor of Levi, receiving a blessing from Melchise- 
dech, and paying him tithes — thus acknowledging 
his superiority ; as St. Paul expresses it, verse 7 — 
" And without all contradiction, that which is less 
is blessed by the greater." 

4 But even supposing that Melchisedech offered 
bread and wine to God, (which we know he did not,) 
and not to Abraham, surely the Catholic church has 
no warrant for her most extraordinary and most un- 
meaning prayer. In what sense can the bread and 
wine, tmconsecrated, as brought forth by Melchise- 
dech, be called " a holy sacrifice," an "unspotted 
host, or victim ?" If it were offered to God, it was 
offered as a free-will offering, as before stated, and 
in the same manner, and with the same intention as 
we have already shown, that the primitive Christians 
offered their oblations, and that bread and wine which 
were afterwards consecrated for the purpose of the 
eucharist. 

''Surely Catholics must admit that this is a gross 
perversion of Scripture. When the ancient church 
offered up to God the bread and wine, the fruits of 
the earth intended for the eucharist, they had no idea 
of their being offered up in any other sense than as 
a free-will offering unto the Lord. St. Paul places 
this matter beyond all doubt, in the tenth chapter of 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, when he is contrasting 
the Jewish sacrifices with tte one sacrifice of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, which they typified. He says, 
ver. 12, "But he, (Jesus,) offering one sacrifice for 
sins, forever sitteth at the right hand of God." How 



160 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



absurd to say, in opposition to this assertion, that his 
body and blood are on the altar, and that Catholics 
are bound to worship them there! Ver. 14, "By 
one oblation he hath 'perfected forever them that are 
sanctified ; and the Holy Ghost also doth testify to 
us. And this is the covenant which I will make 
with them after those days, saith the Lord ; I will 
give my laws to their hearts, and on their minds will 
I write them, and their sins and iniquities I will re- 
member no more." The apostle adds, " Now, where 
there is a remission of these, there is no more an 
oblation for sin" And yet they call themselves an 
apostolic church, say there is a further oblation for 
sin, and thus contradict an inspired apostle — one ex- 
pressly instructed by the Holy Ghost ! And this 
conclusion is very plain ; for if all sins and iniquities 
are not remembered by God against those who are 
sanctified by the Holy Ghost through the one sacri- 
fice, which is a perfect and finished one, as the apos- 
tle tells us immediately after — if that one sacrifice 
made by Jesus upon the cross, " exhausted," as they 
translate it, Heb. ix. 28, " the sins of many/' what 
further need is there for any other offering, when the 
one is sufficient ? Besides, St. Paul tells us plainly, 
that even upon their own grounds it cannot be an 
offering for the remission of sin, which the church, 
as she tells her followers, makes of the Savior in an 
unbloody manner ; for he tells us, as plainly as words 
can express it, u that without shedding of blood there 
is no remission." By the phrase " shedding of blood " 
is implied the slaying of the victim. 

1 Even the term " consecration," which the church 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 161 

uses to express the change which takes place in the 
elements, shows what the view of the primitive 
church was. Consecrate means to dedicate to sacred 
purposes, and this is what the ancient church did. 
Why not call it the prayer of " transubstantiation ?" 
Such would certainly be a more appropriate title, and 
suit much better with Catholic doctrines. Thus, we 
see into what absurdities, into what anti-scriptural 
tenets, that church has fallen, when she once left the 
pure light of Scripture, and by wicked inventions 
sought to raise herself in the estimation of her igno- 
rant followers. 

i Another practice the priests have at the Mass, 
which, upon their own grounds, is more than absurd, 
the signing with the sign of the cross the consecra- 
ted elements. This, upon the principles of the Ca- 
tholic church, that they have become the body and 
blood, with the soul and divinity of our blessed 
Lord, is an exhibition of presumptuous ignorance 
and inconsistency utterly unaccountable, unless upon 
the supposition that the church practised it before 
she taught her followers to believe that the elements 
had become the body and blood of our Lord. Can 
any thing those priests do, make Jesus more holy, 
more pure ? While he walked upon earth, could his 
apostles have made him so ? And still the church 
pretends she has such power. One of their pre- 
tended reasons for making the sign of the cross is, 
to keep off the powers of darkness ; and here they 
pretend to fright away the evil spirits from what they 
are taught to believe is the body and blood of our 
Lord. Away with such blasphemous presumption ! 
14* 



162 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

1 Papists pray that these oblations, which have be- 1 
come, according to that church, the body and blood 
of om Lord, may be carried by the hands of a bless- 
ed angel to God'd high altar. What authority have 
they from God's word to sanction any such petition ? 
They acknowledge that Jesus is now at the right hand 
of God, having made his sacrifice for the sins of the 
whole world, which sacrifice God has accepted. He 
is now at the right hand of God making intercession 
for his faithful people : still, although they admit all 
this to be true, they, in addition, invent a new doc- 
trine. They teach that their church has power to 
form a similar body to that now at God's right hand, 
and they employ an angel to carry it to heaven, 
upon an altar of genuine Roman anti-scriptural con- 
struction, to offer him afresh, as if his first sacrifice 
were insufficient, and his present intercession una- 
vailing. Surely it was Jesus offered himself. No 
created being, angel or man, could make such an 
offering or sacrifice. 

c But at the conclusion of that prayer we find 
traces of the ancient pure doctrine ; for they suppli- 
cate that as many as partake of the body and blood, 
(and here the priest makes the sign of the cross over 
the host and chalice, plainly implying that one is, as 
they teach — and represents, as we believe — the body, 
and the chalice the blood,) should be filled with all 
heavenly benediction and grace. Surely that part 
of the prayer was composed when both were given 
to the people : and the inference follows, that they 
were not to be filled with these spiritual blessings, 
unless they partook of both the bread and the wine. 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 163 

The popish church has fallen into an awful error upon 
this point : the first and fundamental error of tran- 
substantiation drew after it several others. . Let them 
not imagine that this doctrine was not opposed when 
it was first introduced. We find many evidences 
that it was, most fiercely and vehemently : we have 
thus irresistible proofs to show that such a doctrine 
was not received or submitted to quietly in the early 
ages of the church. 

£ You have heard of the Arian heresy which pre- 
vailed in the fourth century after our Lord, the sup- 
porters of which attacked his divinity, denied him 
to be God, and said he was only a superior angel. 
This controversy was kept up for many years. The 
Arian side was supported by many bishops, even by 
some of the bishops of Rome, heads of the infal- 
lible church ; and yet their doctrine was never at- 
tacked ; and surely if the divinity of our Lord were 
attacked, the consequences of that divinity must 
have been attacked, viz. — transubstantiation. And 
again, in all the apologies and defences for Chris- 
tianity, published in the early ages by Justin Martyr, 
Tertullian, Origen, &c, &c, in which we find many 
strange and wicked charges brought forward by the 
enemies of the Christian faith, among whom was 
Julian the Apostate, a crafty and subtle opponent, we 
do not 'discover any charge connected with this sub- 
ject ; a conclusive evidence that no such doctrine 
was entertained in the church at that period; for 
surely had it been then taught, it would have been 
fiercely attacked. All the ancient liturgies bear tes- 
timony to the correctness of our views ; and the fre- 



164 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

/ 

quent use of the words iL type," 11 antitype," " sign,' 5 
and u mystery," as applied to the bread and wine, 
with reference to the body and blood of our Lord, 
show clearly what the primitive church inculcated. 

< The first writer who brought forward the doc- 
trine of transubstantiation was Paschasius Radbert, 
monk of Corby, who lived in the eighth century ; he 
is acknowledged by Bellarmin and Sirmandus — two 
eminent Roman Catholic divines — to be the first 
writer who specially advanced and explained this 
doctrine. He was opposed by several most eminent 
men ; by Johannes Scotus Erigena, the Irishman, 
(yes, an Irishman opposed the novel doctrine of 
transubstantiation when first introduced.) Bertram 
of Ratram, &c, &c, all of whose doctrines agree 
with the reformed church. Berengarius, in the 
eleventh century, also opposed it ; but the age of 
darkness had set in upon the church — he was con- 
demned by several succeeding councils. The ex- 
pression or term, " transubstantiation," was unknown 
in the ancient church. Manning, a celebrated Ro- 
man Catholic writer, in his " Shortest Way to end 
Disputes," page 134, admits that it was first used at 
the fourth Lateran council, more than one thousand 
years after the institution of the Last Supper ; and it 
is truly remarkable, that at the period of the grossest 
darkness and ignorance in Europe — when few knew 
how to read — before the art of printing had been 
discovered — -those corrupt and monstrous doctrines 
were forced upon the poor, ignorant, and defenceless 
people, by which the power of the Roman church 
was extended, and kings and nations grievously 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 165 

oppressed ; and this we find foretold in the Book of 
Revelation, ch. xiii. 

f Still this tyranny did not entirely suppress the 
opposition which the false doctrines of the church 
of Rome received. The Waldenses and the Albi- 
genses proclaimed their detestation of those novel 
principles which were then endeavored to be forced 
upon the church ; and for doing so, encountered the 
unmitigated persecution of the church of Rome. 
The sword and the fagot were used, and every effort 
was made to exterminate all opposers of the Roman 
heresy ; and it is stated that upwards of one million 
of those they called heretics, were destroyed in the 
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, though their teach- 
ers would persuade us, that their false and usurping 
church received no opposition before Luther. 

1 We find Wickliff, in England, protesting against 
the errors of their church in the 14th century ; and 
John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, sealed with their 
blood the sincerity of their belief, at the stake to 
which they were condemned by the council of Con- 
stance, held in the 15th century, which set at naught 
the oath of safety which they had obtained from the 
emperor Sigismund, if they would attend the council, 
and from which this wicked council thought fit to 
release him, upon the principle that no faith was to 
be kept toith heretics. 

1 We know how Luther recommenced the attack ; 
it was only recommencing it. The art of printing 
had been discovered ; and by the printing and cir- 
culation of the Holy Scriptures, the revealed Word 
of God, the opposers of Rome's usurpation had mul- 



166 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



tiplied to such an extent, that the old and frequently 
successfully tried system of extermination by fire 
and sword was unavailing, and Protestants (so called 
from protesting against the innovations and errors of 
popery) were enabled, with the Divine assistance, to 
withstand their persecutors. And the more exten- 
sively God's word is spread, and is looked upon as 
the pillar and ground of Divine truth, so much the 
more will Protestantism prevail, because it takes for 
its foundation and rule that sacred volume which is 
so much opposed to the Roman doctrines which have 
been latterly introduced, and because it is " able to 
make us wise, or instructed, in the way of salvation, 
through faith, which is in Christ Jesus." 

1 Our blessed Lord himself has given us warning 
upon this subject ; he, in the exercise of his Divine 
wisdom, foresaw the gross abuses which would pre- 
vail in the church upon this subject. In the twenty- 
fourth chapter of Matthew, we have a most important 
caution from our Lord himself — we read, ver. 23, 
" Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is 
Christ, or there, do not believe him — for there shall 
arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show 
great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive, if 
it be possible, even the elect. Behold I have told it 
to you beforehand. If, therefore, they (those false 
prophets or teachers) say, Behold, he is in the de- 
sert, go ye not out : Behold, he (that is, Christ) is 
in the closets, believe it not." Now bring the 
doctrine of transubstantiation to the test of this pas- 
sage. The church says, Christ is here in the priest's 
hands — fall down and worship him : our Lord tells 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 167 

you to believe no such assertion. The popish church 
teaches that her truth and power were confirmed by 
many miracles, and our Lord Jesus Christ tells them. 
on that very account they should be more upon their 
guard against her teaching, for it is by such means, 
namely, by great signs and wonders men will be de- 
ceived. The popish church tells them that the Lord 
Jesus Christ is locked up in a little box or tabernacle, 
or pyx ; and Jesus himself tells us not to credit any 
such assertion. The word translated " closets," may 
be more properly rendered by the term u cupboard," 
which accurately applies to what the host is pre- 
served in. Jesus himself tells us not to believe this j 
the church tells its followers that they must ; which 
are they to listen to ? More than one of the apostles 
have recorded this warning of our Lord. 

'Jesus instituted his last supper, and desired his 
servants to do the same, in commemoration or re- 
membrance of him ; if he were to be present, bodily, 
in the sacrament, such a reason for celebrating the 
eucharist would be unintelligible, as we cannot com- 
memorate one who is present. When the early 
Christians commemorated the martyrs and saints, to 
which we referred before, surely it was upon the 
supposition of their absence in glory, in order to be 
excited to imitate their holiness and constancy in the 
faith ; their living bodily presence was never con- 
templated. When the same expression in the origi- 
nal is used with reference to our blessed Lord, why 
should so different a meaning be given, and why 
should any be taught that he is present, bodily, in 
the eucharist, when the very phrase clearly implies 



168 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



his absence ; as we are never said to do any thing in 
remembrance of one who is present with us, and be- 
fore our eyes, as they say the Lord Jesus is in the 
wafer ? 

c Jesus tells us, Matt, xxviii. 20, " Behold I am 
with you all days, even to the consummation of the 
world." And in chap. xxvi. 11, we find him say- 
ing— " Me ye have not always.' 7 How are papists 
to reconcile this apparent contradiction, except that 
in one place he speaks of his body, which is ever 
at the right hand of God, and in the other of his 
Spirit, by which he watches over, and listens to the 
supplications, and supplies the wants of the faithful 
members of his church. But hear what our Lord 
Jesus Christ says, Matt. xv. 13, 14—" Every plant 
■which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall 
be rooted up which means, that every doctrine 
attempted to be established by men, without the au- 
thority of God, will ultimately be destroyed. Teach- 
ing for doctrines the commandments of men, is only 
vain worship, Matt. xv. 9 ; such a system in vain 
seeks the favor of God : to be acceptable to him, it 
must be reformed by the light of his own word. And 
in the next verse, our Lord says of such as teach 
and support any unscriptural tenets, unsanctioned by 
him—" Let them alone, they are blind, and leaders 
of the blind ; and if the blind lead the blind, both 
fall into the pit." We see, from this passage, that 
following the false teaching of the popish church, is 
no justification for their falling into error. God has 
given us his word to give us light in our course j and 
if papists turn away from the teaching of Christ 



IN THE SOMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 169 

himself, and of his holy apostles, and follow after 
blind guides^ who tell them that they can teach 
plainer than our Lord and his inspired evangelist s ? 
and independently of his written word, — which 
those wilfully blind guides say they cannot under- 
stand, and must therefore take upon trust from those 
very persons whose interest it is to deceive them, — - 
what else can be expected but to fall into error and 
heresy, hateful to God and destructive of your eternal 
interests V 

Roman Catholics consider this part of their ser- 
vice of primary importance. But I cannot look 
upon it otherwise than an evidence of their uphold- 
ing a corrupt system, totally, and in all its parts, su- 
perstitious and wicked. It is a difficult matter, and 
truly painful to a Christian to try to reconcile to 
himself the serious charge of corruption against a 
numerous and large body of human beings ; nor do 
I know that I could do so myself towards the Roman 
Catholic priests, if, while they brought with them 
the bane of deception and idolatry, they had not also 
given us the antidote in their numerous inconsisten- 
cies. It will, I am aware, be said, as it has often 
been said heretofore by infidels and protestant sym- 
pathizers, that my language towards papists is harsh ? 
coarse, undignified, and unrefined ; that I should 
rather wish them prosperity, and pray for their con- 
version. This may be all very fine ; it looks admi- 
rably on paper : politicians can find no fault with it, 
neither can Puseyites nor lukewarm Protestants ; but 
to me this would be equivalent to a denial of Christ. 
I cannot desire the prosperity, nor say God speed, to 
15 



170 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



any individual or any society, whether it be religious 
or political, which prominently upholds corruption 
of any kind, and dams up the pure streams of moral 
and scriptural science from the parched souls of the 
children of God. The Romish Mass has been a 
source — and it is so at the present moment, as I have 
shown by a statement of facts which admit of no 
denial — of incredible corruption. The Mass and its 
abettors, Puseyites, papists, infidels, and lukewarm 
Protestants, are in opposition to the holiest practices 
of the Christian belief. Is there any thing in the 
Mass calculated to expand the faculties of the human 
mind ? Is there any thing in the performance of its 
absurd and unmeaning ceremonies calculated to sof- 
ten the hardness, or to give warmth to the coldness, 
of a sinful heart ? In one word — Is there any thing 
in it capable of improving or liberalizing the human 
soul ? The finest faculties of our constitution, the 
imagination, the affections, are left no room to play ; 
they are weakened, demoralized, blighted, and dead- 
ened. I admit that the eye and memory of man are 
actively employed ; but is not the whole man, the 
whole mind, the whole head, heart and soul, obliged, 
in the performance of the service of the Mass, em- 
ployed exclusively in forms alone ? A popish priest, 
in saying Mass, is entrammeled in dismal formalities, 
like an idolater harnessed to the great car of Jugger- 
naut ; he drags his heavy load in the wheel-ruts in 
which his predecessors have gone over before. Never 
did the idolatrous follower, who puts shoulder to the 
wheel of the great car of Juggernaut, labor with 
more toil, or less profit, than does the idolatrous 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 171 

popish priest, who toils and labors assiduously in the 
performance of the ceremonials of the Mass ; such 
as making gods, — and not that alone — it would be 
well if he had no more to do than to make them, 
for that can be done by the dozen or gross, if he 
pleases — he has to bless his gods, make several 
signs of the cross over them, offer incense or smoke 
to them, and finally box them up, to be peddled 
among all his people who have the means of paying 
for them. I have stated in a former work that every 
Roman Catholic, when at the point of death, is 
obliged to receive the viaticum. I then explained 
what was meant by viaticum ; it is one of those gods 
which a popish priest makes at Mass, and which he 
cannot make at any other time. It is made, as I 
stated before, of flour and water, and costs not less 
than a shilling, and as much more as the dying idol- 
ater is pleased to give. Is not the occupation of a 
popish priest a glorious one ? Have not those sons 
of the most respectable Protestants in Boston^ as the 
late Bishop Fenwick termed them, who have gone 
to Rome to be ordained Roman Catholic priests — 
priests according to the order of Melchisedech — have 
they not chosen the better part ? It is not a difficult 
task to become a Romish priest, after the order of 
Melchisedech , in Rome. It may be a serious matter 
to become a Protestant clergyman, or a christian 
minister ; but the great harlot of Rome requires but 
very few qualifications in her priests ; if they have 
hard heads, cold hearts, and tenacious memories, they 
only need to be properly harnessed to the chariot of 
the old lady, and they will " trot her on" in her idol- 



172 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



atrous course, with as much speed as a pagan priest 
would the chariot of Juggernaut. 

How does President Polk feel, now that he has 
had time to reflect upon the fact of his having ap- 
pointed Roman Catholic chaplains to the Protestant 
army of the United States ? A few masses may 
probably sanctify the shedding of blood, and justify 
Mr. Polk in all his movements beyond the well-defi- 
ned limits of his jurisdiction. Pause, Mr. President ; 
there is an eye that never sleeps, that never winks 
or blinks, fixed upon you : it is fixed upon your mo- N 
tives, too, and you may rest assured that whatever 
may be the elements of your motives or movements, 
in appointing Roman Catholic priests chaplains in 
our army, there will be found a subsidiary cause 
which will more distinctly be felt hereafter, and, in 
all probability, accompany you to your grave, where 
there will be few to lament, and many to curse you. 
Others before you have manoeuvered and dallied 
with the popish church ; but what has been the re- 
sult ? Are you fond of modern history, Mr. Polk ? 
If you read that of Louis Philippe, the present king 
of the French, you may find a strong similitude 
between his position and your own at the present 
moment. Had he been sure of his throne, I scarcely 
believe that he would— as he has done — have given 
any encouragement to jesuitism ; assuredly he would 
neither have caused to be abolished, or connive at, the 
violation of the law by which jesuits were expelled 
from France. It is known to all who are intimately 
acquainted with Louis Philippe, that he is a man of 
high intelligence, and strongly opposed at heart to 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 173 

the domineering and intriguing spirit of the popish 
church ; but just like you, sir, and just as you are 
acting towards the papists, he trembles for the safety 
of his throne, and dallies with popish priests and 
bishops, giving them every encouragement and every 
privilege they ask. It is said that Louis Philippe is 
an infidel — surely this cannot be said of you, as we 
are told that you read your Bible, and that you are 
a regular attendant at one of the orthodox churches 
in Washington. Allow me to ask you whether you 
contribute any thing to the salary of your clergy- 
man ? I ask the question with the view of suggest- 
ing to you, whether you could not sue him for the 
money you have paid him, as you have received no 
valuable consideration therefor. All this, as you may 
perceive, is on the supposition — a very improbable 
one it may be — that you too, like Louis Philippe, 
might be an infidel ; otherwise you could not have 
appointed popish priests as chaplains to your army, 
when you might, could, should, or ought to have 
foreseen that these priests would avail themselves of 
the first opportunity to betray yourself, your army, 
and our country. The truth is, that your excellency 
had other things to think of, besides our army ; you 
had no idea, neither had Louis Philippe, of taking 
care of the affairs of other people. You never 
dreamed of sowing seeds or planting figs, which 
others may reap and pluck ; it is enough for you to 
mind your own affairs. You clearly saw, when you 
appointed those chaplains, that your presidential 
throne was in danger, and you thought to propitiate 
the harlot of Rome by appointing to office a few 
15* 



174 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



jesuit priests. Beware, Mr. Polk, I entreat of you 
again : any contact with the harlot of Rome is con- 
tagious, and will be sure to bring Avith it its own 
retribution. Could the ghost of Napoleon speak, he 
would tell you so ; he would show you that what I 
tell you is true. But you need not appeal to the ghost 
of that great man — common sense will tell you, and 
history will confirm the truth of it, that there never 
was an instance of any temporal power truckling to 
Rome, which is essentially antagonistic to scriptural 
science and civil rights, without falling a victim to 
the latter. I fear that your truckling conduct to the 
papists will bring its just retribution upon you much 
sooner than you expected. We have some distant 
murmuring of political thunder already from Penn- 
sylvania, a semi-papal state, or at least so far under 
popish control as to enable the priests of that state to 
become largely instrumental in electing you to the 
office which you now hold. It is true, you are ac- 
cused of having used other influences than those of 
popish priests to gain the support of Pennsylvania ; 
such as publishing Mr. Clay's letters in favor of a 
protective tariff, and affixing to them your own sig- 
nature. This may, or may not, be ail true ; it may 
or may not be true that popish bishops and priests 
have been made the instruments of practising those 
deceptions, and that you owe them a debt of grati- 
tude, which you could not better repay than by ap- 
pointing some of their priests to chaplains' seats in 
the army ; but are you sure that these people will 
re-elect you to the presidency ? and have they not 
made such use of you as they wanted ? If the signs 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH,, 175 

of the times are to be credited, an affirmative answer 
may be given. Your next appointments, it is to be 
presumed, to chaplaincies, may be for the navy ; and: 
your excellency may see fit again to make selections 
from Jesuit or Roman Catholic priests, and send them 
out to some of our ships, now blockading Vera Cruz, 
or somo other port on the Mexican coast, TKe idea 
may never have occurred to you, that popish influ- 
ence has ever found access among our sailors — will 
you allow me to tell you that it has? There is not 
a sinew nor an artery in the whole frame of our 
American republican government, into which popery 
has not found access, and in which it does not live, 
move, and vibrate. 

I know something of this from my own experi- 
ence. It may be recollected that in October, 1843, 
I was appointed United States consul in Cuba, at 
which time the secretary of state, for reasons which 
I need not mention, but which may be seen in my 
correspondence with him, which is now filed in the 
proper department at Washington, deemed it proper 
to send me to Mexico, ostensibly with despatches to 
our minister then at Mexico, but in reality for other 
purposes, which I need not explain. The secretary 
of the navy, Hon. David Henshaw, whether apprised 
of the wish of our government, or not, in this re- 
spect, I will not say, sent me a letter empowering 
me to order any public ship, which I might meet in 
any port or place, within the jurisdiction of our gov* 
ernment, to take me on board, and proceed to Vera 
Cruz. The secretary of state, among other instruc- 
tions, directed me to proceed along the coast of Cuba 



176 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

for certain purposes, and report to him accordingly. 
I deemed it unsafe to commit my report to writing, 
until under cover of our own flag in the harbor of 
Vera Cruz. My report was dated there, and may be 
now found amid the archives of the state department. 

On my arrival in Havanna, after passing by land 
from Neuvitas to Principe, the capital of the north- 
eastern province of Cuba, and from that to Gunaha, 
and along the coast by Matanzas, to Havanna, I found 
there riding at anchor two of our ships of war, the 
Potomac, then commanded by Capt. Sands, and the 
Vandalia, by Capt. Chauncey. I had the pleasure 
of an interview with both these gentlemen on board 
their respective ships, and am happy to acknowledge 
that I was received with an ease, dignity, and a re- 
fined courtesy, of which, as an American citizen, I 
could not help feeling proud. These accomplished 
gentlemen, who are an honor to our navy, and would 
be so to any navy in the world, seemed to vie with 
each other who should carry me out to Vera Cruz ; 
it was soon decided between themselves, without 
any interference of mine, that the Vandalia was to 
convey me to that coast. 

The next morning after my interview with these 
gentlemen, I received a very polite letter from Capt. 
Sands, who was the senior officer upon that station, 
informing me that the Vandalia would be ready at 
an hour's notice to receive me on board, and proceed 
with me forthwith to Vera Cruz. I accordingly lost 
no time in going on board, and was received with 
the customary salute from the ship. It is entirely 
unnecessary to speak of our voyage to Vera Cruz ; 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 177 

... | 

suffice it to say that the captain of the vessel was 
an accomplished gentleman and a fine scholar, pos- 
sessing classical attainments of a high order. In due 
time, the ship dropped anchor opposite the city of 
Vera Cruz, where I was landed under a salute from 
the Vandalia. Before I proceed further in detailing 
the circumstances which corroborate the assertion 
that the spirit of popery has crept into our navy 3 I 
must allude slightly to the object and nature of that 
mission on which Mr. Upshur, late secretary of state 3 
had sent me to Mexico. 

Sometime, I think, in 1832, a bull was published 
by the late pope of Rome on the subject of slavery 
in the United States. This bull was directed to all 
bishops of the Romati Catholic denomination in this 
country. Mr. Upshur, on seeing this bull, sent a 
note by one of the clerks in his department to the 
archbishop of Baltimore, asking him what was meant 
by the bull, and whether the pope claimed any power 
to dictate to this country what action it should take 
on the subject of slavery, or on any other question. 
The note was of course dictated in a mild and chris- 
tian spirit, which characterized the whole life of 
Mr. Upshur, who lived and died an exemplary mem- 
ber of the Protestant Episcopal church, if I am not 
mistaken. Mr. Upshur might well expect a respect- 
ful answer ; he was secretary of state, and, as such, 
was entitled to due consideration : but how did the 
pope's representative in the United States — how did 
this bloated and pompous minion of a foreign power, 
of a foreign country and rotten government— answer 
our secretary of state ? He sent a message — only a 



178 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



verbal one — saying that he could not notice any 
communication from him, except in his official capa- 
city as secretary of state. Mr. Upshur, feeling in- 
dignant at this piece of popish insolence and implied 
right to act as the pope's ambassador, sent me to 
Mexico with a view of ascertaining, by means best 
known to myself, what the popish church was doing, 
and to what extent they were interfering in the po- 
litical affairs of this country. Mr. Upshur knew full 
well that the Mexican bishops were all Roman Catho- 
lics, and that the principal men among them were 
perfectly conversant with what was doing in the 
popish government at Rome for the overthrow of 
our American institutions and government. I ac- 
cordingly proceeded to Mexico, and sent back to the 
secretary of state a report, of which the following 
is a copy : — 

< Vera Cruz, Uth Feb. 1844. 
'Hon. A. P. Upshur, 

£ Sir — I have had the honor of delivering your 
despatches to our minister in Mexico, and now beg 
respectfully to submit to your consideration such in- 
formation as I have been able to collect in relation 
to the views and intentions of the Mexican govern- 
ment and the popish church establishment on the in- 
stitution of slavery in the United States, &c. My 
information is from the only source entitled to full 
credit, and, in my humble opinion, deserves your 
serious consideration ; it is from the archbishop of 
Mexico, head of the Mexican church, and member of 
the Mexican senate. My conversation with his Grace 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 179 

I 

was in the Latin language, and in the presence of the 
Rev. Mr. Ur quart, an Irish clergyman, I believe of 
the order of Jesuits, by whom I was presented to 
him; both considered me a good Roman Catholic, 
and an abolitionist. 

1 After some preliminary conversation, the follow- 
ing dialogue took place between myself and the 
bishop. I give it as it occurred in questions and an- 
swers — the questions by me, the answers from the 
bishop. 

i Question.— u Is the Mexican church doing much 
for the abolition of slavery in the United States ?" 

c Answer. — " Not as much as it ought to do, my 
son ; but still we are doing a little through the agency 
of the Irish clergy, who have the advantage of the 
advice of the great O'Connell. He understands the 
American character, and makes proper use of any 
funds we can contribute towards the great cause of 
emancipation. O'Connell has a bonum caput, ple- 
num sapientice et caritatis. We do a little also 
through Father Varella, of New York, who is a faith- 
ful servant of the church. The holy church will 
never sleep until she sees slavery abolished." 

c Question. — " Why does not Mexico repossess her- 
self of Texas, and abolish slavery there ?" 

1 Ansiver. — "We are anxious to do so, but fear 
we could not retain it. We prefer leaving that to 
the English, who are able to do it, and the abolition- 
ists of Ireland and England assure us that it must be 
done. Santa Anna is anxious for it, as it would be 
the means of restoring to him his lost fame in that 
country." 



180 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

Vlv .4, 

c Question. — " Will your Grace oblige me with a 
letter of introduction to Santa Anna?" 

1 Answer.— I cannot do it, my son. Santa Anna 
and myself are not upon as good terms as usual. My 
country palace lies within a few miles of the city, 
and as I seldom visit it, I have given him the privi- 
lege of occupying it when he pleased, and recently 
he sent me a note, telling me to furnish it anew, as 
the old furniture was not good enough. I told him 
it was good enough for me, and ought to be good 
enough for him, as the palace was mine. Without 
paying any attention to the note, he ordered the palace 
to be furnished according to his directions, at an 
expense of eighteen thousand dollars, and ordered the 
bill to be brought to me, with an intimation that I 
had better pay it at once. I called a council of my 
brethren, and, at the suggestion of the Holy Ghost, 
who presided over our meeting, I paid the bill. Be- 
sides this, he does not like the present constitution, 
which he knows was written by me, as one of three 
senators appointed by congress for that purpose, and 
I should not wonder if, in a few weeks, he dispersed 
the present congress at the point of the bayonet, and 
ordered them to frame a new constitution. 57 

c Question. — H What object does your Grace think 
he has in view in those movements ? You are the 
head of the church, and why not consult you ?" 

c Answer.— u He does many things without con- 
sulting me, and I am afraid he will get into trouble. 
It was only the other day, an agent came from Eng- 
land, offering him a very large sum of money if he 
would suppress the manufacture of cotton goods in 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 181 

the republic. He consulted some of his friends upon 
the subjectj and they told him if he did so, it would 
cause a revolution. The English agent soon returned 
again with another proposition, offering him more 
money, and guaranteeing to him sufficient aid to 
reconquer Texas, if he would suppress the manufac- 
ture of cotton goods. The English agent assured 
him that the British government would not prevent 
her half-pay officers from joining Santa Anna in an 
expedition to Texas, and that the English and Irish 
abolitionists would furnish men and means to subdue 
Texas. He again consulted his friends, and they 
would not consent to abandon the manufacture of 
cotton. This enraged him, and he next determined 
to insult the British flag, with a private understand- 
ing that Great Britain would not be satisfied with 
any reparation for this indignity short of the sup- 
pression of the manufacture of cotton : thus securing 
to himself the money that was originally offered him, 
and avoiding the odium that would otherwise be 
attached to this injustice done to the manufacturers, 
He may succeed in this, or he may not." 

c Question. — " Cannot your Grace give me a letter 
of introduction, by some means, to this extraordinary 
man, Santa Anna?" 

1 Answer. — " No, my son ; but I will do better for 
you— I will send one of my reverend brethren with 
you to the British consul, through whose hands large 
sums of money pass to Santa Anna, and he, at my 
request, will procure for you such a letter of intro- 
duction as will give you free access to him, and pro- 
cure for you any reasonable favor you may ask." 
16 



182 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



' End of my conversation with the bishop of 
Mexico. 

< I accompanied the bishop's reverend friend and 
confidant to the office of the British consul, a Scotch 
gentleman of very prepossessing manners, who re- 
ceived me with great courtesy, as the supposed friend 
of the archbishop of Mexico, and expressed a regret 
that he could not accompany me himself to Santa 
Anna's, but would give me a letter to the governor 
of Vera Cruz, which would answer all my purposes. 
I have the honor of enclosing to you the letter as I 
received it, and accompanied with a translation. It 
is marked No. 1. But unfortunately, on my arrival 
in Vera Cruz, I found all my plans defeated by Capt. 
Buchanan, of the ship Vincennes, who called upon 
Mr. Dimond, the consul to this place, leaving with 
him a singular message to be given to me. I should 
not allude to this message at all, if it did not tend 
to defeat all my plans and jeopardize my liberty, al- 
though it was evidently an insult to myself, and to 
the government which honored me with a rank 
higher than that of Capt. Buchanan. It immedi- 
ately went abroad that I was imposing upon the au- 
thorities of the country, and nothing better than a 
spy ; and accordingly I deemed it imprudent to call 
upon either the governor of Vera Cruz or Santa 
Anna, at all events until I had the honor of laying 
the subject before you, and ascertain from the proper 
authority whether a commander of a sloop of war is 
allowed to insult, without provocation, a consul and 
bearer of despatches, in the legitimate discharge of 
his duty. Believing, however, that Capt. Buchanan 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 183 

may arrive in the United States before me, and report 
to the government that he offered me a passage, to 
save expense to the United States, and throw the 
blame of not accepting it upon me, I waved all per- 
sonal considerations, and sent him the following 
note : — 

c Vera Cruz, Feb, 6, 1844. 

' Mr. Hogan presents his respects to Capt. Buchanan, of 
the United States ship Vincennes, and thanks him for the 
polite message which he had the honor of receiving from 
him through Mr. Dimond, American consul, offering him a 
passage in his ship to the United States, if Mr. Hogan 
would send him a note requesting him to do so. 

' Had Mr Hogan the honor of any personal claims on 
Capt. Buchanan's attentions, he would not hesitate one 
moment to send such a note as the Captain requires; but 
under existing circumstances, and being bearer of de- 
spatches from the Hon. Waddy Thompson, minister from the 
United States to the republic of Mexico, to our own gov- 
ernment, Mr. Hogan deems it improper to ask as a personal 
favor, what he believes nothing but a sense of duty should 
induce Capt. Buchanan to grant. Mr. Hogan, however, 
assures Capt. Buchanan that any attentions from him, in his 
official capacity, to Mr, Hogan as bearer of despatches, 
would be most respectfully received. 

i To the above note, which I deem respectful, the 
Captain made no reply, but called personally with 
two of his officers, and repeated to me the substance 
of the message which he had left with Mr. Dimond. 
I trust you will call the attention of the proper tri- 
bunal to this painful subject. If, as bearer of de- 
spatches, I have discharged my duties honorably and 
diligently, I am entitled to protection from the inso- 
lence of a naval officer, and I trust the government 
will grant it by investigating this matter ; but as it 
had no reference to this report, which I have the 



184 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

I 

honor of making to you, I will refer it to the naval 
department, to which it more properly belongs. Suf- 
fice it to say, that he reported me to be a Roman 
Catholic priest, at variance with the pope, and thus 
not only defeated my plans, but jeopardized my lib- 
erty. Under these circumstances, I deemed it im- 
prudent to proceed any farther without your advice. 
Another circumstance induces me to be particularly 
cautious here. On the day of my arrival, I was in- 
troduced to a Mr. Hargous, a merchant in the city of 
Vera Cruz. A few minutes' conversation with this 
gentleman induced me to suspect him of being one 
of Santa Anna's spies. Seeing me arrive here in a 
man-of-war, he suspected I came on business of pri- 
mary importance, and used every means of ascertain- 
ing from me what it was. He asked me to his house ; 
I declined going. Next day he asked me to dine : 
to which I sent an apology. He then posted out to 
the residence of Santa Anna, and spent that night 
with him, no doubt to put him upon his guard as to 
what may occur from my apparent mysterious arri- 
val. This man, Hargous, has our officers who arrive 
here, and I believe others who reside in Mexico, 
completely under his power ; he cajoles them, while 
they are unconscious of it, by good dinners, good 
wines, and consummate craft. I would respectfully* 
say to you, sir, in the language of the old poet, 

" Hunc tu, Romane, caveto." 

1 The above report I have the honor, sir, to sub- 
mit, and remain, 

1 Your most obedient servant, 

f WILLIAM HOG AN. 5 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 185 

The above report may not be, in itself, of much 
importance ; but it discloses one or two important 
facts. It shows that popery has found its way into 
our gallant navy. I say gallant, not because I have 
so far found it so, but because it has proved itself so 
since the establishment of our government. It shows, 
besides, that the popish church is trying to under- 
mine our republican institutions by interfering with 
the administration of our laws. A large portion of 
our citizens are Roman Catholics to a man ; at least, 
to a bishop and priest ; in all our slave-holding States, 
they pretend to he pro-slavery men ; and yet it is 
acknowledged by the Catholic bishop of Mexico, that 
the popish church will leave nothing undone to 
abolish slavery in the United States. In all Catholic 
countries, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, France, Buenos 
Ayres, slavery is not only encouraged, but is sup- 
ported by law of the land ; and yet, wherever there- 
seems a chance to weaken the allegiance of the citi- 
zens of a republican form of government, they are 
strong advocates of abolition. This is an historical 
fact, which Mr. Polk seems to have forgotten, when 
he appointed Jesuits chaplains to our army ; and I 
would venture the assertion,— let my readers set 
down as much of it as they please to bigotry or per- 
sonal hatred to popish priests, — -that if the executive, 
for the time being, continues to appoint such men 
captains in our navy as Buchanan of the Vincennes, 
and Catholic priests for their chaplains, that before 
many years, there will be no safety in sending a 
Protestant in any capacity from the United States to 
a Roman Catholic country. As soon as this Bucha- 
16* 



186 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



nan discovered that I had the full confidence of Mr. 
Secretary Upshur, and that I was at variance with 
the pope of Rome, he apprised Mr. Hargous of Vera 
Cruz (who was himself a good Roman Catholic) of 
the fact. Buchanan instantly called upon our con- 
sul, Mr. Dimond, and informed him that he could 
not give me a passage in the ship to the United States, 
because the pope had cursed me. Would Buchanan 
do so, had I been a Roman Catholic priest, or had 
he not been friendly and probably in the confi- 
dence of the Mexican government and popish church ? 
It was not enough that this superannuated fop, Capt. 
Buchanan — T dislike profaning the title of an Amer- 
ican captain by giving it to any man who merits it 
not from his country — should not take me as passen- 
ger in a ship of the United States, but to show his 
zeal in the cause of popery, he must proclaim it in 
Yera Cruz that he would not do so, assigning as a 
reason that I was cursed by the pope ; thus adding 
falsehood to treachery. I never asked for a passage 
to the United States in the ship Yincennes ; I would 
not accept of one from the nautical Fadladeen who 
commanded her. I was prejudiced against him from 
the moment I saw him. I looked upon him as a 
trifler, unworthy of his command. I no sooner fixed 
my eye upon him, than an involuntary exclamation 
was about to break from my lips, 

" An if a man did need a poison now, 

Whose sale is present death in , 

Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him." 

Every thing in the Yincennes bore evidence of the 
trifling character of the commander. I visited her 



IN THE B03JUN CATHOLIC CHUIiCH. 187 

the day before by invitation of Capt. Chauncey, of 
the Vandalia— not to gratify my own curiosity, but 
to have the pleasure of enjoying a little longer the 
society of that amiable gentleman and brave officer, 
in whose ship I had just spent a few days. The 
contrast between the two ships and their respective 
commanders struck me forcibly. The architecture 
and arrangements in the Vincennes seemed to excel 
those of the Vandalia ; but vastly different and greatly 
superior was every thing, within the province of the 
captain, managed on board the Vandalia. The cabin 
of the Vincennes resembled more a French barber's 
shop, than the cabin of a ship. The bed, which m 
generally a hammock in ships of war, or, at any rate 5 
nothing better than a well-arranged cot, was a splen- 
did four-posted bedstead, covered with curtains ele- 
gantly festooned, &e. &c, and all at the expense of 
Uncle Sam, as the gallant commander informed us, 
There was not a cosmetic or aromatic perfume known 
in the whole science of painting, whitening hands, 
dyeing hair, periwig-dressing, which were not to be 
found and duly labelled in the state room of Com- 
mander Buchanan. There was no room for maps, 
coast-surveys, histories of foreign countries and voy- 
ages, depths and soundings of foreign coasts, strength 
or mode of fortifications j these things were entirely 
beneath his consideration ; they were matters of 
minor importance. A thorough knowledge of the 
ancient and modern classics, a general acquaintance 
with the various languages, improvements made in 
the science of gunnery, and such things, were not 
worthy the attention of the gallant Buchanan, of 



188 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



the Vincennes ; they were only fit for such working 
men and naval drudges as Capts. Chauncey and 
Sands. One speck upon the lily-white hands of 
Capt. Buchanan, one single hair of his whiskers in 
disorder, or one Cologne bottle out of place, were 
matters of more importance than all the dull sciences 
of ancient or modern times. 

Such is the gentleman who declared in Catholic 
Vera Cruz, — even though unasked to do so, — that he 
would not have a person, who was cursed by the 
pope, passenger in his ship. Nor was he content with 
this : he called on me, at the office of our consul, 
Mr. Dimond, in company with a thing whom he 

called his private secretary, named , of New 

York, and repeated to me the insulting message he 
left with Mr. Dimond for me, threatening, if I might 
judge from his appearance, to annihilate me. He 
was armed cap-a-pie ; he was buckled to an enor- 
mous sword, — as surely such a sword could not have 
been buckled to him. It was not generous in him 
not to have brought another for my use — I should 
not then have been so hugely frightened as I was ; 
but fortunately for me, my gray hairs — every one of 
them turned gray upon the occasion, and stood upon 
end too — protected me from his wrath and that of 
his officers, and never since have I been able to re- 
store my hair to its primitive color.; and if Captain 
Buchanan — let him be known in future by the name 
of Capt. Cosmetic — will make me a present of a 
bottle of his hair dye, I shall forgive him the huge 
fright in which he put me at Vera Cruz. I laughed, 
it is true, when the belted knight of Cosmetic — know 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH* 189 

all men, that is his present name— left me with un- 
broken skull and unfractured bones at the office of 
Mr. Dimond ; but^ 

u How oft, when mem are at the point of death, 
Have they been merry, which their keepers call 
A lightning before death. O, how may I 
Call this a lightning !" 

I will take leave of the Captain for the present 

It may or may not be worth President Polk's con- 
sideration to know what is the opinion of the Roman 
Catholic bishops in Mexico, or, which amounts to 
the same thing, the government of the pope may be, 
upon the subject of slavery in the United States. 
What is it to him what the archbishop of Mexico 
thinks upon the subject ? There are others, besides 
Mr. Polk, in this country, who desire to abolish sla- 
very, and yet hypocritically uphold it in private. 

One thing, however, Mr. Polk may learn from 
my report to Mr, Upshur, that the Romish church 
is secretly interfering with the government of the 
United States ; for if it will do so in one case 3 
and on a subject of such vital importance to us as? 
that of slavery, it assuredly will in every other, 
Disguise it as they may, the question of papists is 
not, whether slavery shall exist or not ; the real ques- 
tion with them is at the root, how to get possession 
of the government of the United States ; or, which 
means the same thing, how to give papists a numer- 
ical ascendency over Protestantism : that once ac- 
complished, the pope of Rome will be the actual 
sovereign of this country. Is the Romish church 
actually solicitous for the welfare of the negro slave ? 



190 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



Does she herself, her bishops, or her priests, desire to 
see the negro better educated, better clothed, fed and 
housed than he is, under our gov-ernment ? Do the 
bishops and priests of Mexico wish to see any im- 
provement in the condition of our slaves ? I would 
not outrage the common sense of my readers by an- 
swering in the affirmative. The question with them 
is, — and it lies at the root, runs in the sap, and 
through the whole trunk of popish intrigue, — how 
they can manage to wrest all political control from 
the hand of government. 

It is said that there are 3,000,000, or thereabouts, 
of slaves ; and it is also computed that there is nearly 
an equal number of Roman Catholics. The church 
of Rome knows full well that if the slaves were free, 
they could be easily humbugged and enticed to em- 
brace the popish religion. A few jesuits could easily 
accomplish the work. The African is naturally fond 
of music ; many of the jesuit priests are proficients 
in that science — their love of music would be grati- 
fied by them. The African is fond of show, gew- 
gaws, and all such things ; he will find them in the 
Catholic church. He is by nature superstitious; 
that, too, would be gratified in the Romish church. 
We are told by those who have travelled in Africa, 
that almost each tribe has its god, whom they can 
propitiate by sacrifices of some kind ; they can be 
indulged to their hearts' content in the Romish 
church, where each individual can have a god in the 
shape of a viaticum or wafer, whom they can pro- 
pitiate by a Mass, to be had daily at a given price. 
In fact, every thing in the Romish church, its instru- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 191 
..... < 

mental music, its singing, its crossing, its holy wa- 
ter, beads, scapularies, and other juggleries, are admi- 
rably calculated to win over the slave to the Roman 
church ; and full well do the Romish priests know, 
that if once united with themselves, the downfall of 
this government would follow as a necessary conse- 
quence. Bring three millions of Africans, and nearly 
the same number of Catholics, to our ballot boxes, 
and there is an end to our government — there is an 
end to our civil rights, and to our Protestant religion. 
Think you, Americans, that the church and priests 
of Rome do not understand this ? Think you that 
O'Connell, the pope's agent in Ireland, is not aware 
of this ? Do you suppose that he ever would have 
threatened us with clipping the wings of our eagle, 
if we dared raise our hand against Great Britain, 
unless he were certain of this fact ? Never ; and 
never, until we put a stop to the interference of the 
pope, his agents, or the agents of any other foreign 
power, shall we be safe in the enjoyment of our civil 
rights, or count upon the permanency of our institu- 
tions. The archbishop of Mexico, of whom men- 
tion is made in my report to Mr. Upshur, gave the 
names of two individuals, who were then, and are 
now, employed by the popish church to abolish sla- 
very in the United States. One was the Irish traitor 
O'Connell ; the other is one Father Varella, then 
and at present in New York. We all know the cha- 
racter of O'Connell ; and I know something of this 
Father Varella. I discovered, when in Havanna, a 
short time ago, that he once lived in that city, and 
was induced to come to New York, where he was 



192 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

told his abilities for intrigue would be duly appre-* 
^ciated. He is an unscrupulous monk, whose charac- 
ter in Havanna was such that it was deemed prudent 
for him to retire as soon as convenient, and take 
refuge in the United States. He stands very high. 
I am informed, with Bishop Hughes, of New York. 
These are the men, and such are a few of the agents 
and measures adopted by the infallible church of 
Rome to tamper with our laws and civil institutions. 

Pause for a moment, Americans, and look at the 
character of the agents whom a foreign king, the 
pope of Rome, employs to disturb that peace which 
you -have enjoyed since the adoption of your consti- 
tution ; — O'Connell, that traitor, a double traitor to 
the British constitution, which he has sworn to main- 
tain and defend; a Father Varella, of whom lean 
say no more than that he was a monk in Havanna, 
and obliged to leave even that place in consequence 
of excelling them in their usual practices. Is it not 
time for Mr. Polk to see that the political and social 
interests of this country are at stake, and that he 
should no longer make choice of popish priests as 
proper persons to act as chaplains in our army, or 
any department of government ? 

If Mr. President Polk will pay no attention to my 
arguments on this question, or if he and his minions 
will treat me with violence for uttering them, as 
they did upon a recent occasion when acting as an 
officer in the Boston custom-house, I would refer him 
to an authority which cannot be doubted, Corporal 
Trim Brownson, of the Boston Democratic Quarterly 
Review. The Corporal, it must be known, is the 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 193 

recognized organ of the popish church in New Eng- 
land. " In point of facts/' says the Corporal, " de- 
mocracy is a mischievous dream, wherever the Ca- 
tholic church does not predominate.'' What think 
you of that, Mr. Polk ? You are a Presbyterian I 
understand. Do you suppose that the democratic 
government of the orthodox church, whose beautiful 
and simple services you listen to every Sabbath, is a 
mischievous dream ? I may be too fast; I should 
not have asked this question without first ascertain- 
ing whether or not you join in them. What are you, 
Mr. Polk ? Being a citizen of this republic, I am 
allowed to ask you such questions as are not forbid- 
den by law. Are you a Presbyterian, or a papist ? 
This may not be a question of sufficient weight to 
engage your official attention ; but questions of less 
magnitude have occupied as great minds as yours ; 
they have agitated whole universities, as we are in- 
formed by a grave author — sufficient at least for the 
present occasion. We are told that there were two 
universities at Strasburg, and that they never could 
agree on the affair of Luther's navigation. One 
of these universities was Protestant, and the other 
popish. Protestants maintained that Luther sailed 
before the wind. The popish doctors denied this, 
and contended that he fell off several points. The 
dispute remains unsettled to this day. It is above 
reason, says one party ; it is below reason, cries the 
other. It is impossible, says one ; it is impossible, 1 
said the other. The question was finally decided 
by having one of the popish doctors rush into the' 

room, exclaiming, By G God can do every thing, 1 

17 



194 HIGH AND LOW MASS 

and Luther could never have sailed in the teeth of 
the wind. Would that some doctor would make his 
appearance, and decide whether you, Mr. President, 
are a papist or a Presbyterian. Papists contend that 
you belong to them in spirit. Presbyterians (in 
whose doctrines I believe myself ) contend that you 
are theirs by virtue of a solemn profession^ and that 
it cannot be possible that you would betray them 
and their religion into the hands of popery. Corpo- 
ral Brownson, of the Democratic Review, (and you 
know, sir, that he is good authority in all matters 
appertaining to popery, being its constituted organ in 
New England ; besides, the Corporal, like yourself,, 
is, should, was, or will be a democrat of the first 
water) assures us that " Democracy in this country is 
down to the freezing point, and will fall to zero, 
or lower. Very few," says this democratic prophet 
and popish oracle, H look upon obedience to law- as a 
modern duty : while such is our moral state, it is idle 
to talk of civil freedom. If we love freedom, we 
cannot but seek the predominance of the Catholic 
church, for no other can teach due reverence and 
obedience. Under the supremacy of the Catholic 
church, through its moral and spiritual influences, 
liberty may be a reality, and democracy a delusive 
dream." 

Thus speaketh the great Corporal Trim, ex-priest 
of all denominations, the great scape-goat of all reli- 
gious and infidel associations, and now the oracle 
and defender of popery in the United States. The 
prophet continues and speaketh thus : — " If the church 
becomes predominant here, Protestants will all be 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 195 

exterminated. We hope so, ?J says the Corporal ; " we 
would exterminate error every where, by converting 
its subjects to the truth— by moral, not by physical 
force, — the church never uses physical force ; her 
weapons are spiritual, not carnal ; yet Protestants 
will find them none the less powerful on that ac- 
count. The church permits all men to have equal 
rights before the State ; but before her own tribunal, 
she knows of no toleration of error. To do this, is 
the settled policy of the church. That this policy 
is dreaded and opposed, and must be dreaded and 
opposed by all Protestants, infidels, demagogues, ty- 
rants, and oppressors, is also true*" Do you hear, 
Mr. Polk, this public avowal .of the supremacy of the 
pope of Rome over all the political and moral gov- 
ernment of this country? But you will say that 
this Brownson, or popish Corporal Trim, by which 
he is better known, deserves no attention ; that he 
never was true to any party or church ; that he was 
always a low, vulgar, glavering hypocrite, ready to 
kiss any hand that will give him bread, or help to 
raise him from the dirt and filth into which his own 
imprudence, infidelity, treachery, and vileness had 
cast him, and that therefore he is no evidence in any 
case. I will admit that he is no evidence, except 
against Catholics. Brownson has been excommuni- 
cated from every religious society to which he ever 
belonged. There is scarcely a country in the world 
divided into so many fragmentary sections, in morals 
and politics, as our own. Brownson belonged suc- 
cessively, for a shorter or longer time, to each of those 
fragments, and there is not to be found among them 



196 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



a single one of them from which he has not been 
unanimously excommunicated: all have cast him 
off, and papists have taken him up as the organ of 
their doctrines in this country ; a very appropriate 
one he is. His testimony for and against them is 
entitled to due credit. 

Will the reader permit me to lay before him an 
extract from a letter recently written by the bishop 
of Landaff to Sir James Mcintosh ? It is short, and 
I regret that I have not the whole letter : but I think 
it is appropriate, and deserves the attention of all 
Protestants, especially all Protestants in America. 
"Protestant errors die, and never revive. Popish 
errors only sleep. I have always felt that a papist 
can have no claim to the exercise of power in a 
Protestant country, if religion is to be regarded as 
a matter of any importance to the state. In matters 
of religion, a papist avowedly surrenders his own 
judgment. His understanding is not his own. It 
is voluntarily placed under the control of his spirit- 
ual guide ; and however tolerant he may be disposed 
towards heretics, it is not his toleration, but that of 
his church, upon which their treatment depends." 

There is, at least, a difference of opinion as to the 
nature and character of the spiritual weapons which 
the popish church uses between the organs of that 
church in this country and myself. Papists maintain 
that physical force is never used to propagate their 
faith ; they contend that the church of Rome never 
did, and do not now. of course, (for the church never 
changes, but is always the same,) recommend to Ro- 
man Catholics the use of carnal weapons to enforce 



IN THE B0MAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 197 

her assumed spiritual jurisdiction over Protestants. 
It is thought by Americans that spiritual jurisdiction 
means something like moral suasion. Whenever 
Roman Catholics can find a reptile biped, who is 
cast out from all human society as Brownson has 
been, they at once hire and commission him to go 
from city to city, and from state to state, throughout 
the country, in order to persuade the people that by 
spiritual jurisdiction nothing more is meant than 
moral suasion, Now let us look into this matter. I 
would respectfully ask Mr. Polk, who has recently 
commissioned two popish jesuits to act as chaplains 
in the United States army, to. examine it also. About 
the year 1500, or a short time after, in the reign of 
Pope Paul IV., serious disputes arose between the 
Protestants and Catholics of Germany ; there were 
also controversies between the Catholics themselves, 
regarding the Romish ritual. A meeting of the 
cardinals— (or rather the members of the cabinet of 
the court of Rome) was held by order of the pope, 
and the following question was submitted for their 
consideration ;— " What means shall be devised to 
suppress the divisions now existing between the 
Protestant and Catholic subjects of the holy see?" 
The cardinals of the church of Rome answered 5 
through their chairman, CarafFa, u A thorougk y search~ 
ing inquisition" Accordingly, the pope issued a 
bull, ordering an inquisition to be immediately found*- 
ed, and commissioned CarafFa to preside over it. The 
pious Caraffa lost not a moment in putting the orders 
of the pope into execution. He immediately hired 
a house, fitted up rooms for offices, prisons for here- 
17* 



flQS HIGH AND LOW MASS 

tics, provided them with bars, blocks, chains, bonds, 
and all other horrible utensils and modes of torture ; 
which was all done at his own cost and expense. 
He named commissioners for all countries, and with 
these spiritual weapons, such as locks, chains, pri- 
sons, and bolts, all of which (according to papists) 
have nothing of carnality about them, heretics were 
persuaded to become Catholics, and swear allegiance 
to the pope. The following were the rules adopted 
by order of the pope for the government of the church 
in relation to all Protestant governments and their 
subjects : — 

Firstly. In matters of faith, not a moment's delay 
must be made ; but, upon the least suspicion, mea- 
sures must be immediately taken with the utmost 
rigor. 

Secondly. No respect must be shown to any prince 
or prelate, however high his station. i 

Thirdly. Extraordinary and extreme severity must 
be used against such as shall seek to defend them- 
selves through the protection of any potentate ; only 
whosoever confesses , shall be treated mildly and with 
fatherly compassion. 

Fourthly. We must not abase ourselves to any 
sort of toleration towards heretics, and especially to- 
wards Calvinists. 

Here is a precious specimen of popish spiritual 
jurisdiction. The church never uses physical force, 
say the champions of popery ; their weapons are not 
carnal, but spiritual. Can you, Mr. Polk, president 
of the United States, see any thing spiritual in the 
above regulations of the infallible church ? Is not 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 199 

every thing you see in them carnal, rigorous, — unre- 
lentingly and unscrupulously carnal ? Is not every 
Roman Catholic bound to refuse even your protec- 
tion and interference in his behalf? Nay, further, is 
he not bound to refuse your toleration as a heretic ? 

But it will be said that Roman Catholic priests or 
bishops never carry into practice the above doctrines 
or councils of their church ; their bishops may even 
deny it, and no doubt Bishop Hughes, of New York, 
the archbishop of Baltimore, or whoever applied to 
Mr. Polk for the appointment of Catholic chaplains 
in our army, tried to persuade him that no such be- 
lief, as that heretics are to be persecuted, and that it 
would be debasement to tolerate Calvinists, is either 
taught or councilled by them, especially in this coun- 
try of free laws and republican institutions ; but I 
beg leave respectfully to tell you, Mr. Polk, that the 
doctrines of the Romish church are now what they 
were in the days of Caraffa, and that no Roman 
Catholic bishop or priest in this country can, without 
being guilty of perjury, pay any allegiance to you 
as president of the United States, but is, on the con- 
trary, bound by a solemn oath to depose you from 
your executive office, to betray you in all your offi- 
cial relations, and finally to sap and undermine the 
republican government of the United States. I have 
said in a recent work of mine, entitled, " Popery as 
it was, and as it is," that every papist priest and 
bishop in the United States takes the following oath 
on his bended knees, and calling God to witness it : 

'I, A. B., do solemnly swear that I will be faith- 
ful to St. Peter the apostle, and to the holy Roman 



200 



HIGH AND LOW MASS 



church, and to our Lord A. the pope, and to his suc- 
cessors, canonically coming in. I will neither ad- 
vise, consent, or do any thing that they may lose life 
or member, or that their persons may be seized, or 
hands laid upon them, or any injuries offered them, 
under any pretext whatever. The counsel which 
they shall entrust me withal, by themselves, their 
messengers, or letters, I will not knowingly reveal 
to their prejudice. I will help them to defend and 
keep the Roman papacy, and the royalties of St. 
Peter, saving my order, against all men. The 
rights, honors, privileges, and authority of the holy 
Roman church of our lord the pope and his afore- 
said successors, I will endeavor to preserve, defend, 
increase, and advance. I acknowledge the holy 
catholic and apostolic church of Rome as the mother 
and mistress of all churches ; and I promise and 
swear true obedience to the Roman pontiff, the suc- 
cessor of Peter, and vicar of Jesus Christ ; and all 
things I find delivered and declared by the holy 
canons and general councils, especially by the coun- 
cil of Trent, I do unhesitatingly receive and con- 
fess ; and likewise I condemn and reject all things 
contrary thereto. This is the true faith, out of which 
there is no salvation ; I will keep it firmly to my 
life's end, and will take care that it be kept by my 
subjects, and those of whom I may have charge.' 

This latter clause of the oath is generally called 
the creed of Pope Pius, and is taken now by all 
priests. This oath I have taken myself ; and while 
acting under its influence as a Roman Catholic priest, 
I not only felt it my duty to keep no faith with here- 



IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 201 

tics, or uphold the laws of the Protestant govern- 
ment under which I lived, but I considered it obli- 
gatory upon me, believed it to be a service rendered 
to God, if I could undermine and extirpate them 
from the face of the globe. I now declare, and 
would be willing to make oath to the fact, that there 
is not a Roman Catholic priest living, on whose alle- 
giance any Protestant government can depend ; nor 
is there living a heretic who would be safe in culti- 
vating the friendship or reposing in the confidence 
of any priest under the spiritual jurisdiction of the 
Romish church. I know that there are amongst our 
citizens many who are mere politicians, and nothing 
else, and who never did, or never will, until it is too 
late, pay any attention to the march and repeated 
aggressions of popery upon the heart and strongest 
fortifications of our republican government. If the 
executive of the United States will examine the 
whole history of popery, and look with a careful and 
scrupulous eye into the whole history of its struc- 
ture, he will find that it is pre-eminently political, 
and gives an undeviating testimony to the fact which 
I have more than once asserted, that there is no com- 
patibility between popery and human freedom. This 
is plain as the noon day ; common sense confirms it, 
the experience of nations testifies to its truth, and 
we, at some future day, will be called upon and ap- 
pealed to, to bear evidence to the truth of this state- 
ment. Whatever is found to be wrong in christian 
principles, whatever is erroneous in evangelical ethies, 
must also be wrong in political practice, and unsound 
in national ethics. 



202 



HIGH AND LOW MASS. 



It is so long since we have spoken of the Mass, 
I almost forgot that I commenced this work under 
that title, and with a view of giving it full and 
entire to my readers. I am not abte to do so in one 
volume, as I intended. I trust, however, that the 
digressions I have made, may have some interest, and 
afford some information to many of my Protestant 
readers ; at any rate, I have given them some relief 
from the dull ceremonies and the sickening buffoon- 
eries practised in the Romish Mass ; should health 
and opportunity favor, I design, at some future day, 
to continue this work on the Mass. 



END. 




HIGH AND LOW MASS 



IN THE 




Homcra €atljolk Cljurcl); 



WITH COMMENTS. 



BY WILLIAM HOG AN, M 

FORMERLY A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST, AND AUTHOR OF 
"POPERY AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS," "AURICULAR 
CONFESSION," ETC. 



"I know thee to the bottom; from within 
Thy shallow centre, to thy outmost skin." 



NASHUA :— CHARLES T. GILL. 
BOSTON :— JORDAN AND WILEY. 




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